Nicola Selby Bachelor of Arts, University of British Columbia 2001 PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

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1 THE CHALLENGE OF ENGAGING ETHNO-CULTURAL AND IMMIGRANT RESIDENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN SUSTAINABILTY POLICIES THE CASES OF BRAMPTON, ONTARIO AND SURREY, BC by Nicola Selby Bachelor of Arts, University of British Columbia 2001 PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF URBAN STUDIES In the Urban Studies Program Nicola Selby 2010 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2010 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately.

2 APPROVAL Name: Degree: Title of Thesis: Nicola Selby Master of Urban Studies The Challenge of Engaging Ethno-cultural and Immigrant Residents in the Development of Urban Sustainability Policies The Cases of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC Examining Committee: Chair: Meg Holden Assistant Professor, Urban Studies and Geography Karen Ferguson Senior Supervisor Associate Professor, Urban Studies and History Noel Dyck Supervisor Professor, Sociology and Anthropology Sean Markey External Examiner Assistant Professor, Explorations in Arts and Social Science Program Date Defended/Approved: March 3, 2010 ii

3 Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the Institutional Repository link of the SFU Library website < at: < and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09

4 ABSTRACT In an era where the levels of immigration are changing the size and the context of municipal populations throughout Canada, immigrant rich municipalities are forced to find ways to ensure that all voices are heard, and are part of the urban sustainable land-use policy development process. I have chosen to conduct a comparative case study of the municipalities of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC, to discover how they have managed to engage the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in their sustainable policy development processes. In order to answer the research questions posed I bring together the theories of just sustainability and municipal readiness/responsiveness and have developed a checklist to provide a set of criteria that will allow me to systematically examine the extent to which Brampton and Surrey have been inclusive of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. Keywords: Brampton, Ontario; Surrey, BC; public engagement; urban planning, ethno-cultural and immigrant residents; post colonialism and the city; municipal readiness and responsiveness; just sustainability; sustainable land-use; Growth Plan; Sustainability Charter; and Action Plan for the Well-being of Surrey Residents. iii

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to those who have encouraged and supported me in the writing of this document. I would like to especially thank my thesis supervisor Karen Ferguson, who ensured that my motivation for the topic was kept at fever pitch. I would also like to thank my family who listened to me day after day and night after night talk about the importance of sustainability and public participation. I would also like to acknowledge the support of my co-workers whose unwavering support got me through. I would also like to acknowledge the support and help from the municipal planners at Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC, without your many years of experience and dedication this report could never have been written. As well, I would like to acknowledge the intellectual minds of Julian Agyeman, Marcia Wallace, Frances Frisken and Kristen Good, without their theories this work would never have been possible. iv

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval...ii Abstract...iii Acknowledgements...iv Table of Contents...v List of Tables...vii 1: Introduction : Literature Review The City, the Planning Profession and Analyses of Power The Policy Context of Canadian Immigration Ethno-cultural Diversity, Land-use and the Planning Profession Public Engagement in the Face of Ethno-Cultural Diversity Municipal Readiness/Responsiveness The Just Sustainability of Canadian Suburban Cities : Research Methodology The Just Sustainability Index and Municipal Readiness/Responsiveness (JSI/MRR) Checklist : The Demographic composition of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC Ethno-cultural and Immigrant Residents Living in Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, British Columbia : The Case Study of Brampton in the Age of Province-Wide Sustainability Ontario s Places to Grow Act and Growth Plan Brampton s Official Plan (OP) and the Growth Plan Brampton s Strategy for Public Engagement Mayor s Town Hall Meeting City of Brampton s Introductory Workshop: a public consultation session to identify the Growth Plan s Challenges and Opportunities Public Awareness and Engagement Strategy Brampton City Planning Staff and Public Engagement Further Inclusive Policy Measures in Brampton : The Case Study of Surrey in an Era of Council Consciousness of Sustainability Social Planning in Surrey: An Action Plan for the Social Well-being of Surrey Residents and the Sustainability Charter Surrey s Sustainability Charter and Land-use Planning v

7 6.3 The Sustainability Charter s Work-plan and Public Consultation Strategy Sustainability Charter s Public Consultation Process Surrey Planning Staff and Public Engagement : Discussion : Conclusion Appendices Appendix 1: Semi-Structured Interview Questions Appendix 2a: City of Brampton Growth Plan Consultation Brochure Appendix 2b: City of Brampton Consultation Boards Appendix 3a: City of Surrey Brochure Appendix 3b: City of Surrey Consultation Boards Appendix 3c: City of Surrey Consultation Boards Appendix 3d: City of Surrey Consultation Boards Appendix 3e: City of Surrey Consultation Boards Works Cited vi

8 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Just Sustainability Index Table 2: Municipal Readiness Indices Table 3: Municipal Responsiveness Indicators and Response Categories Table 4: JSI/MRR Checklist Table 5: Immigration and Ethno-cultural diversity in the municipalities of Brampton and Surrey, 2001 Census Table 6: Immigration and Ethno-cultural Diversity in the Municipalities of Brampton and Surrey, 2006 Census Table 7: Visible Minority Characteristics Table 8: JSI/MRR Checklist Findings for the Municipalities of Brampton and Surrey Table 9: Policy Recommendations for Municipalities Wanting to Engage their Ethno-cultural and Immigrant Residents vii

9 1: INTRODUCTION In an era where the levels of immigration are changing the size and the context of municipal populations throughout Canada, immigrant rich municipalities are forced to find ways to ensure that all voices are heard, and are part of the urban sustainable land-use policy development process. Canadian cities have defined sustainability as a policy problem that is primarily about the built form and land-use. For most Canadian cities changes in land-use require that the public engage in the process, to ensure that residents who may be affected by such changes are able to participate and have opportunities to voice the effects such changes will have on their day-to-day lives. Given the changing demographic context, where ethno-cultural and immigrant populations are increasing, it has become relevant for municipalities to develop engagement practices based on the just sustainability paradigm, where social equity and justice become the point of departure in the development of sustainable land-use policies. The issue of engaging marginalized and underrepresented populations in a municipality on sustainable land-use not only affects ethno-cultural and immigrant residents but affects all residents in a municipality. For the purposes of this paper I have chosen to ascertain the applicability of just sustainability to the engagement of ethno-cultural and immigrant community members. Just sustainability is a theoretical paradigm which refers to the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the 8

10 future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems (Agyeman 2005b, p 14). Just sustainability should be used by municipalities to inform the design and planning of the built form, as it articulates an egalitarian approach to public engagement on land-use, planning processes, and has the potential to ensure that the needs of all people can be met from now and into the future. When examining policy issues that require a whole-of-community response, such as sustainability, there is an urgent need to ensure that all voices are heard as the impact of these policies will impact the day-to-day realities of all from now and into the future. The needs and experiences of ethno-cultural and immigrant populations, whether they be first, second or third generation, are multifaceted and in some instances differ from that of the dominant culture. As such, municipalities need to develop varied public engagement techniques that are able to capture the voices of their growing ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents, given that in some Canadian municipalities ethno-cultural and immigrant populations represent the majority of voices in the policy development process. For the purposes of this paper I have chosen to conduct a comparative case study of the municipalities of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC, to discover how they have managed to engage the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in their sustainable policy development process. The choice of a comparative case study research design will provide a basis on which generalizations can be made about municipal public engagement practices, in an 9

11 era of increased ethno-cultural diversity. (Andranovich and Riposa 1993, p 8) As well, the comparative approach will uncover the normative and institutional practices of municipal planning departments that determine the choice and types of methods used to engage residents. (Abu-Lughod 2007, p 449) I have chosen to explore two research questions. First, what are the municipalities of Brampton and Surrey doing to ensure that their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations have a say in their sustainability policy processes? Second, how effective have these municipalities been at engaging their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in the development of their sustainability policies? Brampton and Surrey have both undergone extensive public engagement processes to enact sustainable land-use policies, have similar demographic make-ups, and chose to use similar public engagement strategies. The comparative analysis will contribute to the growing body of research on municipal responsiveness/readiness, which examines the ability of cities to respond to the multifaceted needs presented by an increased ethnically diverse population. The paper also furthers the municipal readiness and responsiveness research by examining the implementation of municipal inclusion policies, put in place to ensure greater participation of ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. I bring together the two theories of just sustainability and municipal readiness/responsiveness and have developed a checklist to provide a set of criteria that will allow me to systematically examine the extent to which Brampton and Surrey have been inclusive of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. I will argue that while municipalities have implemented many policies in an attempt 10

12 to be inclusive of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents, those policies have failed, as they have not increased the level of civic participation by ethnocultural and immigrant populations in their policy development process. I will further argue that the lack of participation by ethno-cultural and immigrant populations is correlated to the lack of attention paid to their engagement needs by municipal planners. Planners structure the engagement processes in municipalities. The structure of such processes should be developed to ensure that the voices of all residents can be heard and are able to take part in the policy development process. To answer the research questions posed, I will examine the literature, develop the federal/provincial/territorial policy context, examine multicultural planning methodologies, public engagement approaches, and the theories of municipal readiness/responsiveness and just sustainability. I will then build a case study for both Brampton and Surrey, using interviews with city planners, local newspaper accounts, related academic literature, statistics, council minutes and reports. The case studies will examine the demographic and sustainable land-use policy context of each municipality and examine the public engagement tactics used in their sustainable land-use policy processes. I will then apply the information gathered to the just sustainability and municipal readiness checklist, where I will then discuss the implications and limitations of municipalities when engaging their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. The aim of the paper will be to develop a tool that outlines criteria that municipalities, service providers, 11

13 and residents can use to ensure that all voices are heard in policy development processes. 12

14 2: LITERATURE REVIEW For the purposes of this paper I will examine literature pertaining to post colonialism, the planning profession, the policy context of Canadian immigration, the effects of ethnic diversity on land-use planning, public engagement, the theories of municipal readiness/responsiveness, and just sustainability. The purpose of the literature review will be to examine relevant findings and to provide the context for the paper as a whole. Post-colonial theory will provide the conceptual lens that will be used throughout the paper, and will be used to understand the dominant discourses around the engagement of ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. The second part of the literature review will examine the historical and policy context of immigration in Canada. The chapter will then examine the implications that ethno-cultural diversity has on land-use and the planning profession and the implications that ethno-cultural diversity has on public engagement practices. The last part of the chapter will examine the theories of municipal readiness and responsiveness, and just sustainability. The point of this section is to build the theoretical framework needed to build the methodological tools which will aid in answering the research questions posed. 2.1 The City, the Planning Profession and Analyses of Power Urbanists have made forays into the theoretical domain of post-coloniality and have applied its lens to urban land-use processes and have provided new insights to enrich the field of urban planning. The application of a post-colonial 13

15 lens has been instructive to the understanding of land-use and the effects colonialism has on socially constructing place, space, and time. Post-colonialism provides a conceptual frame for which to understand dominant discourses of cities and has challenged the inherent assumptions that underpin the normative theories of how cities are shaped. Unpacking the text of the city through a postcolonial lens provides a rich, textured and diverse reading and allows the voices of the other to be heard. Through the use of an overarching post-colonial theoretical lens, I will analyze the sustainable land-use policy development processes of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC, and in particular the ways that these municipalities have engaged the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. According to Ruddick (1996), the city is the place where diversity is most apparent. (p135) Cities are the places where the role of the other is scripted and are the places where identities are created and contested. Leonie Sandercock (2003) has maintained that white liberal democracies have inscribed a totalizing hegemonic discourse into our society s political institutions, such as the professional domain of planning. (p 320) This is problematic as planners rarely unpack their role of reinforcing the discourse of the hegemon, as they see their role in land-use policy development as neutral and unproblematic, all the while reinforcing the dictates of a white liberal society. (ibid) Planners become invested in the maintenance of these systems of inequality, as they work towards homogenizing difference. Urban planners tend to focus on the built environment while skirting the existing cultural and 14

16 social realities (Harwood 2005, p 356). In the context of a multicultural community, the notion of the planning process as ethnically or culturally neutral emerges as implausible, given the embedded hegemonic assumptions within the planning discipline. (Harwood 2005, p 366) This is seen through the engagement tactics used by planners, where whole-of-community engagement processes are developed that fail to recognize the differing ways that groups engage with the city or are able to provide input in the policy development process. In order to understand the role of the planner, it is essential to understand how power shapes the planning process. Urban planners shape public engagement processes and are invested in the power dynamics of such processes. Planners have the power to influence the conditions that render citizens able to or unable to participate, they shape the ways in which citizens are able to act and organize effectively, for or against issues that affect their lives. (Forester 1989, p28) Planners design and shape public engagement processes. Planners determine who is contacted, who participates, and who persuades whom of which options in the policy development process. (ibid) Planners often times controls access to information, which groups hold it, how it is shared, and how readily such information is understood. (ibid) Planners are not neutral bystanders in the policy development process; they have the power to act or to not act, and on whose behalf. As such, in order to understand the postcolonial city and how citizens are able to engage in it, it is important to unpack the role of the planner. For the purposes of this paper I examine the role of planners in the engagement of ethno-cultural and immigrant residents as many of 15

17 the issues, while pertinent to many other marginalized groups, uniquely present a policy challenge to ethno-cultural and immigrant residents in municipalities due to the demographic change caused by increased levels of immigration. 2.2 The Policy Context of Canadian Immigration Since the 1960 s immigration policy in Canada has undergone dramatic changes, as many of the provisions in the Immigration Act related to source country preference that gave preference to immigrants from Europe and North America have been removed. The current Act now allows persons to immigrate to Canada from all source countries as long as they are able to satisfy the eligibility criteria. The policy shift has changed the ethnic composition and the numbers of visible minorities in Canada. Immigration is one of the concurrent powers that are shared between the federal and provincial government. In an area of dispute federal laws prevail. (Kataoka & Magnusson 2007, p 12) Under immigration legislation the federal government is responsible for determining the number of immigrants who gain entry into Canada, while the provincial government develops policies that mediate the types of services, through funding allocation, that municipal governments are able to provide for integration and settlement services. During the 1990 s the federal government sustained high levels of new immigrants coming to Canada, while at the same time decreasing funding allocation for the specific and varied programming needs of the differing ethnocultural groups arriving in Canada. (Hoernig & Walton-Roberts 2006, p 411) This 16

18 left a gap in policy development which municipalities had to fill, where they were left to develop policies that addressed the needs of their increased numbers of immigrant constituents with the decreased funding available to them. (Poirier 2004, p 2) Poirier maintains that the major impact of immigration is felt at the local level. It is local initiatives and programs that assure the success of national immigration policies. (Poirier 2004, p 11) Municipalities that have developed initiatives to address integration, in the absence of senior government programming, all have done so due to the large numbers of ethno-cultural groups. Municipalities have been instrumental in bringing people together with culturally specific organizations, creating synergies among persons of the same ethno-cultural group, and across groups to address issues around anti-racism, human rights, and anti-discrimination. Municipalities have supported these types of association and organizations in an attempt to create service delivery that is culturally sensitive. Municipal policy responses can be seen as strengthening group capacity and community development. (Poirier 2004) However, immigration also poses a number of challenges for municipal governments. Municipalities have no constitutional obligation to address immigration, and are constrained by the dictates of federal and provincial governments. The policies put in place by federal and provincial governments provide little guidance on how local governments are to handle issues of integration through programming on the ground. This lack of guidance challenges the ability for municipalities to respond to the service needs of their diverse populations. The 17

19 numbers and diversity of immigrants affect the ability of municipal staff to deliver adequate and appropriate services, and changes the way that municipal staff engage with citizens. (Frisken & Wallace 2003) 2.3 Ethno-cultural Diversity, Land-use and the Planning Profession Ethno-cultural diversity, results in a number of land-use planning considerations, which challenges the way that planners have been traditionally taught to respond. (Burayidi 2003, p 261) Ethno-cultural diversity challenges planners to define and apply in locally relevant ways the meaning of Canadian multiculturalism. It requires municipalities and planning professionals to reexamine the definition of the public interest, think about inclusivity, and consider hidden cultural values embedded in planning practice. Planners use the notion of the public interest as a means to address equity. The hegemonic assumption underlying the notion of the public interest is that there is but one homogenized and unified public, denying Canada s rich history of ethno-cultural diversity. (Fong & Shibuya 2005) One way to address the assumption of a homogeneous public interest would be to acknowledge the existence of multiple publics and make the assumption of diversity the starting point. This reconfiguration of the public interest allows for the development of public engagement techniques that can be inclusive of all communities. Public consultation from this standpoint would ensure that everyone can participate. According to Sandercock (2003) planners have yet to analyze their role in the cultural politics of difference. Planning as a profession has an historic role 18

20 that reinforces the hegemonic culture and the dominant class (p 4). Sandercock points out that there has been a failure in the planning profession to respond to cultural diversity in cities, and to respond to the ways that the values and norms of the dominant culture are reflected in plans, planning codes, by-laws, heritage and urban design practices. Planners have failed to plan from a multicultural perspective, or design participatory processes that are inclusive of immigrants. In short, culture matters as people have different needs, come from different social and cultural backgrounds and have different experiences. Different groups need to be treated differently to accommodate their ethno-cultural diversity. Burayidi (2000) points out that the lack of awareness that most planners have of the societal norms of ethno-cultural communities and the ways that they engage with government has the capacity to undermine the public engagement process. According to Burayidi, there is an expectation by the profession that immigrants should and will assimilate to the hegemonic culture. (p 3) This standpoint has resulted in tensions over the public realm and in particular the methods used to engage the public. Burayidi makes a number of suggestions regarding the ways that planners can ensure that ethno-cultural groups can become part of the public engagement process. One way to accommodate the needs of ethno-cultural groups in Canada would be to ensure that documents are translated and that translation services are made available to groups. 2.4 Public Engagement in the Face of Ethno-Cultural Diversity For municipal governments, the challenge of building inclusive urban communities requires that local governments and other local institutions take 19

21 account of diverse interests and needs. (Preston & Wong 2002, p 42) Municipalities solicit the views of their constituents through the use of public engagement processes. Public engagement represents the process whereby council or city administrations seek public input, and attempt to learn from the public what its needs and wants are. Public engagement is intended to be a twoway process where municipalities educate and learn from the public on a particular issue. (Graham, Phillips & Maslove 1998, p 135) In the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario, public consultation is legislated and must occur before any land-use changes can be made. Thus, public consultation is a way for citizens to affect the proposed changes to the physical landscape of their communities. (Frisken & Wallace 2002, p 252) Ideally, public participation in land-use decision making is used by elected officials and community planning departments to develop better and more inclusive decisions by informing them of the needs and wants of their constituents. (Graham, Phillips & Maslove 1998, p 137) There are many criticisms of public engagement. One criticism is that it may allow greater access for citizens or groups who are more informed and vocal; however, it may not be the best way to reach ethno-cultural groups. Baer s (2008) study reveals that there are significant differences between cultural groups in the ways that they interact with their civic governments. The level of social capital developed among particular ethnic groups depends on the relevance of civic engagement in their countries of origin. Language is an 20

22 important element of integration; the higher level of proficiency that immigrants have with English, the more likely they are to engage in their communities, and municipal government. The relative size of the ethnic group in a community also matters, as it determines the extent to which members become involved in civic life. According to Baer (2008) the larger the size of the ethnic group tended to lead to higher levels of involvement within ethnic groups, but lower overall levels in civic engagement outside the ethnic group. Language difficulties, as well as lack of familiarity with municipal services and participatory democracy, may make it difficult for some immigrants to attend public meetings or to participate in municipal decision making processes, even when their interests are directly involved. (Frisken & Wallace 2003, p 171) This is particularly evident in land-use planning, where public engagement is mandated as part of the process. (ibid) Non-profit service providers play a critical role in the engagement of immigrants in municipal decision making, as they are able to communicate the needs of the group which they serve. Ethno-cultural diversity and public engagement of marginalized groups require that questions of how citizens access or have contact with their local government are addressed, as this determines how they are brought into the policy process to express their concerns. (Graham and Phillips 1998, p 3) 2.5 Municipal Readiness/Responsiveness The need to accommodate the diverse realities of immigrant and ethnocultural communities has resulted in the need to create and implement policies at the urban level that are inclusive of ethno-cultural diversity. (Wallace & Frisken 21

23 2002, p1) Municipal readiness/responsiveness refers to the capacity that municipal governments have to address the issues associated with increased numbers of immigrants in their municipality, and incorporates issues such as cultural accommodation, equity, and accessibility. (Hoernig & Walton-Roberts 2006, p 408) In Canada, municipalities are hampered in responding to their changing demographic realities due to constitutional constraints, lack of resources, and an inability to develop public processes that are inclusive of their diverse ethnocultural populations. According to municipal readiness/responsiveness scholors little is known about the policy role municipalities have in federal/provincial immigration and integration policy development processes. What is known is that the effects of immigration are most felt at the local level of government. An understanding of the policy tools available at each scale of government is fundamental in developing an understanding of the equity concerns that immigration presents to municipalities. (Poirier 2004, p 2) Wallace and Friskin (2000) found that the reluctance or failure of suburban governments to go beyond the responsibilities prescribed by senior government legislation has important implications for an understanding of urban policymaking in a regional context. Their discussions with suburban officials and workers revealed that immigration was thought of as a phenomenon experienced by central cities, rather then outlying municipalities. Their study also revealed that the experiences of immigrants depended on the municipality they choose to reside in, as central municipal governments tended to be proactive in policy 22

24 responses to integration, and suburban governments tended to be reactive in their policy response and shifted the focus of their lack of response back to the lack of funding received from federal and provincial governments. The work of Good, Frisken and Wallace discerned that while central city municipalities have developed an array of policies to respond to the needs of their immigrant constituents, suburban municipalities tended to shift the focus of their lack of policy response to other levels of government. Central city municipalities tended to have in place multicultural or diversity policies, committees, funding for settlement service providers, commitment of staff and city council, translation services, and sought to work with community representatives and service providers to ensure that immigrants and ethnocultural needs were part of the decision making process. However, suburban municipalities generally had difficulties in understanding the service needs presented by their diverse population, and were unable to develop communication policies that were representative of the diverse languages spoken, due to the lack of federal and provincial funding for such initiatives. Wallace and Frisken s (2003) study went further to explain that the lack of a policy response from suburban municipalities was a result of a lack of commitment by decision makers and changes in provincial directives. The study goes on to state that elected councils were unable to adjust to their changing constituencies and their political expectations. Municipal employees were challenged in delivering adequate and appropriate services, which inherently changed the way that employees were able to carry out their jobs. 23

25 Communicating with immigrants became a barrier for staff, as they were unable to find ways to communicate with citizens where English was not the first language. Using family members to translate information became a barrier for some cultures, as it caused embarrassment, and carried the risk of misinterpretation. Immigrants are moving in large numbers to suburban cities. The ability for those municipalities to be responsive to the needs of all their citizens is an issue that needs to be addressed. The literature on municipal readiness/responsiveness maintains that while municipalities are creatures of the provinces, local governments have the policy imperative to respond to the concerns and needs of immigrants in their midst. (Wallace & Frisken; Good) While municipalities have the capacity to accommodate their immigrant constituents such policy responses vary significantly, within regional governments and between municipalities, in the ways that multicultural policies are developed and implemented. (Good 2005) 2.6 The Just Sustainability of Canadian Suburban Cities Sustainability refers to "[meeting] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Brundtland 1987) In the face of increased levels of immigration, the social and equity dimensions of sustainability have become major concerns for Canadian cities. Increased numbers of immigrants to Canadian suburban areas demand that suburban municipalities rethink the way that they relate to their communities and how they deliver services. (Graham, Phillips & Maslove 1998, p 279) 24

26 Sustainability discourse has shown that the local matters and place matters, when developing sustainable policies and processes for land-use development. Currently, Canadian cities have become consumed with addressing urban sprawl and low density development practices. Unsustainable policies which were previously encouraged have become passé with the advent of climate change and larger urban populations. (Graham, Phillips & Maslove 1998, p 253) Land-use planning has become the dominant tool used by municipalities to address sustainability. While sprawl and low density development are important issues to address in order to achieve sustainability, true sustainability can never be achieved without addressing the social equity and justice dimensions of the definition put forth by Brundtland. Creating a functioning sustainable and multicultural city requires an investment in human beings, not just in bricks and mortar, and the environment. (Sandercock 2004) Just sustainability is a theoretical construct that melds the environmental justice paradigm with the sustainability paradigm, and can be seen as the egalitarian conception of sustainable development (Agyeman 2005, p 14). It is defined as the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems (Agyeman 2002, p 2). It highlights the pivotal role that equity and justice play in creating sustainability. It suggests a transformative approach to sustainable development and sustainable discourse, since it takes from its onset equity and justice as a means to redress environmental degradation. 25

27 Agyeman maintains that in order for societies to be truly sustainable, there will have to be some sort of acknowledgement and principle that ensures that everyone is treated in an equitable and socially just way. (Agyeman, Bullard & Evans 2002, p 78) As a theoretical paradigm, just sustainability ensures that sustainability is no longer just an environmental concern, but a social one as well. It acknowledges that a truly sustainable society is one where social needs, welfare, and economic opportunity, are integrally connected to environmental concerns. (Agyeman & Angus 2003, p 346) Agyeman poses a new way of looking at sustainable development, and insists that true sustainability needs to look at the root cause of environmental degradation, which in his estimation is social injustice. Until this shift in analysis materializes no development can be sustainable. Just sustainability as an analytical and theoretical frame allows for the needs of all citizens to be considered in the planning and policy contexts of sustainable development of cities. It recognizes that justice and sustainability are intricately linked at the problem level, and ensures that the linkage is in place whilst devising solutions. Sustainable societies can only emerge if society begins to demonstrate greater levels of material, social, economic and political equality. (Agyeman 2002, p 324) Inequality within society effectively excludes large numbers of citizens from a sense of citizenship and collective responsibility; as such sustainability can mean nothing, unless development is equitable and just. (ibid) For people to prosper they must participate in the decisions and processes that affect their lives. Sustainable development is about the quantity and quality of 26

28 empowerment given to people so that they may participate. (Agyeman and Angus 2003, p 350) To build a sustainable city it is necessary to ensure that all people have a say in the decision making and public engagement processes around sustainable development. Just sustainability should be incorporated not only in our relationship with nature, but also in the way we create and manage our built environment. (Warner 2002, p 36) Possibilities exist in developing social equity and justice at the local level that incorporates multiculturalism and sustainable development, the key is to ensure that all voices are heard and represented in decision making processes. (Fainstein, 2005, p 16) The task then for cities is to ensure that all voices have a say, and that under-represented groups, like immigrants, are encouraged to contribute in the policy process. 27

29 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In an effort to understand the ways that municipalities have been inclusive of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in the development of their sustainable policies, I have decided to investigate the municipalities of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC. The research questions under investigation are: first, what are the municipalities of Brampton and Surrey doing to ensure that all voices have a say, particularly those voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations, in their sustainability policy processes? Second, how effective have these municipalities been at engaging their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in the development of their sustainability policies? I answer the first research question by developing an analytical tool titled the Just Sustainability Index/Municipal Readiness or Responsiveness Checklist (JSI/MRR Checklist). The JSI/MRR Checklist, based on the work of just sustainability and municipal readiness and responsiveness scholars, establishes the extent to which the voices of ethno-culturally diverse residents are being engaged in the development of urban sustainable policies. The checklist examines indices that municipalities should consider when developing sustainable policies. I answer the second research question by interviewing municipal planners in Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC to discern their thoughts on how effective their municipalities have been in engaging their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations.(appendix 1) In each municipality I was able to 28

30 interview two municipal planners at their places of work. The interviews were semi-structured as questions were provided in advance. (Appendix 1) The planners interviewed were in charge of the public consultation processes for the sustainability planning processes examined in this paper. Along with interviews, I also examined council minutes, municipal policy documents, consultant reports, municipal by-laws, provincial legislation, federal legislation, newspaper articles, and census statistics. For the purposes of this paper I have elected to use a comparative case study approach, as I hope to uncover the extent to which the immigrant-rich municipalities of Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, BC have engaged their ethnocultural and immigrant constituents in their sustainable land-use policy development processes. According to Abu-Lughod (2007) comparative urban research allows for researchers to uncover the significance of social and economic structures that shape urban governance structures. (p 450) In the absence of such comparisons, researchers are challenged in developing theoretical understandings that underpin urban governments. (ibid) Comparative urban research allows for generalizations to be made across, between and among cities and allows researchers to develop theories that underpin the fabric of communities. Andranovich and Riposa (1993) suggest that comparative research design in urban studies is needed as urban areas differ in terms of population, political institutions, governance and economic bases (p8). The challenge in conducting comparative case study research in the field of urban studies relates to the issues surrounding data comparison, as cities differ 29

31 in the way that they collect and enumerate their statistical findings. I hope that through the use of the JSI/MRR Checklist coupled with qualitative interviews that the uncovered findings will lead to a practical tool that will inform and instruct municipalities on areas of urban governance that will need to change so that they become inclusive of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in sustainable land-use policy processes. The JSI/MRR Checklist will point to policy mechanisms that municipalities should adopt at the onset of their public engagement processes. It is my aim to develop a rich and contextualized analysis about the challenge municipality s face when engaging their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in sustainable land-use policy development processes. The choice to compare two municipalities is based on the need to provide reliable tested data to the discipline as there is a lack of information regarding how municipalities engage their immigrant and ethno-cultural communities in the sustainable landuse decision making processes. I selected the cities of Brampton and Surrey as they have a similar demographic makeup, and were both engaged in developing sustainable policies which required large public consultations. I hope that the analytic conclusions arising from the two cases selected will be more powerful then those coming from a single case (Yin 2003, p 53). While I recognize that the contexts for each case will differ greatly, it is my contention that there will be common conclusions that can be derived from each. Comparative research enables me to take the analysis one step further toward the development of an explanation and solution on how to socially include immigrants and ethno-cultural 30

32 groups in sustainable land-use policy decision making and development. (Abu- Lughod, p 449) 3.1 The Just Sustainability Index and Municipal Readiness/Responsiveness (JSI/MRR) Checklist In order to answer my first research question, I have developed a checklist to measure and to better understand what the municipalities of Brampton and Surrey are doing to ensure that the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents are heard. I have chosen to blend the indicators developed by the just sustainability and municipal readiness and municipal responsiveness theorists and call it the JSI/MRR Checklist. The first part of this section will examine the indices developed by the just sustainability and municipal readiness/responsiveness theorists. The section will then blend the indices into the just sustainability/municipal readiness and responsiveness checklist (JSI/MRR Checklist). The JSI/MRR Checklist establishes the extent to which the municipalities of Brampton and Surrey have been able to include the voices of their ethnocultural and immigrant populations in their urban sustainability policy development processes. The checklist assesses the necessary policy mechanisms and tools necessary to ensure that municipal public engagement processes are inclusive. As well, the checklist develops a baseline of policies that each municipality has in place to address diversity and assesses them to ensure that all constituents are heard. 31

33 Agyeman (2005) in his quest to assess the applicability of just sustainability in various organizations developed the Just Sustainability Index (JSI). (Table 1) Agyeman has used the JSI to examine the policy, programs, websites, and discourses of municipal governments and non-profit service providers, to determine the extent that social equity and justice have been incorporated into the overall mandates, goals and objectives of organizations. Agyeman has defined the JSI as a hybrid of discourse analysis, content/relational analysis and interpretive analysis (Agyeman 2005, p107). Agyeman developed the JSI as a tool to examine organizations and assess the extent that equity and justice was incorporated by various agencies involved in sustainability planning. The JSI was used to quantify the number of organizations which have incorporated equity and justice as part of either their mission statements or their textual or program materials. Table 1: Just Sustainability Index 0* No mention of equity or justice in core mission statement or in prominent contemporary textual or programmatic material. 1** No mention of equity or justice in core mission statement. Limited mention (once or twice) in prominent contemporary textual or programmatic material. 2*** Equity and justice mentioned, but focused on intergenerational equity in core mission statement. Limited mention (once or twice) in prominent contemporary textual or programmatic material. 3**** Core mission statement relates to intra and intergenerational equity and justice and/or justice and equity occur in the same sentence in prominent contemporary textual or programmatic material. Source: Agyeman 2005, p 108 Guide to the JSI s Scoring: * 0 refers to those organizations where there was no mention of equity or justice in their core mission statement or in the textual or program materials. (Agyeman 2005, p108) **1 refers to those organizations where there was no mention of equity or justice in their core mission statement, however they had limited mention of (characterized as once or twice) in their textual or program materials. (Agyeman 2005, p109) ***2 - refers to those organizations where there was no mention of equity or justice in their core mission statement, however they had limited mention of (characterized as once or twice) in their textual or program materials. (Agyeman 2005, p109) 32

34 ****3 Only those organizations that had a score of three could be considered to have more then a passing concern for just sustainability and be operating within the just sustainability paradigm (JSP), as their core mission statement relates to intra and inter generational equity and justice and or justice and equity occur in the same sentence in their textual or program materials. (Agyeman 2005, p 109) While the JSI provides insightful analysis regarding just sustainability, the tool is limited as it only examines the text of various organizations and their rhetorical commitment to social equity and justice. The JSI lacks the means to specifically analyze the ways that organizations have used equity and justice policies to address the needs of their ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents. Simply put, the JSI does not address the implementation of equity and justice policies and whether or not those policies address the engagement of ethnocultural and immigrant residents in sustainability policy development processes. With these limitations in mind, I have melded the JSI with the indices developed by the municipal readiness and responsiveness scholars. The indices they have developed specifically look at the policy mechanisms available to municipalities to ensure that ethno-cultural and immigrant residents are able to access and engage in municipal policy development processes. To understand the indices chosen from both the municipal readiness and municipal responsiveness scholars, I will examine each set of indices individually. The municipal readiness indices have been developed by Wallace and Frisken (2000 & 2004). Through their work Wallace and Frisken have analysed the policy mechanisms and tools available to municipal governments regarding the settlement of immigrants and how municipal governments respond to the specific needs of immigrants living in their municipalities. The authors and their research have been instrumental in placing municipal governments at the policy table alongside federal and provincial governments when deciding immigration 33

35 policy, as their work was able to make the necessary arguments to demonstrate that municipal governments are best able to speak to the day-to-day needs of immigrants since they live in cities. Their work has been able to demonstrate to policy professionals at all levels of government that the integration of immigrants and new Canadians depends largely on the initiatives and responses of municipalities. (Wallace and Frisken 2000) The indices developed by Wallace and Frisken are useful in highlighting some of the policy tools that municipalities have used to address and accommodate the needs posed by an increased ethno-cultural and immigrant population. (Table 2) Table 2: Municipal Readiness Indices Indicators Political inclusiveness Access and equity in municipal service delivery Employment equity programs Efforts to provide programs that foster employee awareness and sensitivity Anti-racism and Multicultural programs Response Categories Formal actions taken by a municipal mayor and council to include representatives of immigrant communities or to address immigrant related concerns in policy deliberations. (p17) Municipal government s efforts to provide access and equity in service delivery recognize and seek to overcome the difficulties faced by immigrants and some other groups in finding out about services relevant to their needs and in communicating with municipal and nongovernmental service providers. (p17) Designed to make public sector jobs more accessible to immigrant groups; they may aim to increase opportunities for immigrants in the municipal public service, either by removing barriers to employment or by reserving a proportion of jobs for immigrant applicants. (p17) Typically involve efforts to train municipal employees about immigrant related changes occurring in their communities, and about what those changes imply for how employees do their jobs and relate to the public. (p 17 18) Programs directed at specifically defusing interracial tensions, preventing racially motivated acts of violence or discrimination, and fostering 34

36 Table 2: Municipal Readiness Indices Indicators Efforts to support community agencies that specifically deal with immigrants and ethno-cultural groups and communities Response Categories community acceptance and appreciation of ethnic diversity. (p 18) Municipal governments may make grants to support community agencies that serve particular segments of the immigrant population or to enable community agencies to develop programs targeted specifically at immigrants. Alternatively, they may provide support services (staff support, office space and the like) to agencies that represent or provide services to immigrant communities. (p 18) Source: Wallace and Frisken 2000, p Good (2005) builds on the work of Wallace and Frisken (2000 & 2004). Her indices, while similar to Wallace and Frisken s differ, since they assess whether or not municipalities have adapted their services and governance structures to facilitate and meet the needs of urban immigrant residents. The indicators and analysis presented by Good are useful as they assess the types of policies put in place by local governments to address the needs of immigrants and ethno-cultural minorities. (Table 3) Table 3: Municipal Responsiveness Indicators and Response Categories Indicators Council Initiatives in Multiculturalism Policy. (Good 2005, p 267) Corporate Multiculturalism Initiatives (Good 2005, p 267) Response Categories Municipalities might also take steps to increase their political inclusiveness by establishing mechanisms by which immigrant and ethnocultural minority preferences enter council deliberations on policy matters. This may involve creating advisory committees that deal with immigrant and ethno-cultural concerns specially or offering interpretation services for citizens who wish to depute to council. (Good 2005, p 268) Municipalities may choose to actively create an inclusive municipal image, by establishing inclusive symbols and using inclusive language 35

37 Table 3: Municipal Responsiveness Indicators and Response Categories Indicators Policy Pronouncements of Departments or Agencies. (Good 2005, p 267) Informal policies or practices in all arenas (council and civil service). (Good 2005, p 267) The views of leaders in the immigrant settlement sector and of ethno-cultural organizations as to how responsive municipalities are in their concerns. (Good 2005, p 267) Response Categories in key municipal documents. Municipalities may develop employment equity initiatives to address systemic barriers to immigrant and ethno-cultural minority access to employment. Municipalities may initiate multiculturalism and anti-racism initiatives including a variety of efforts to improve their inter-cultural relations, to combat racism and to eliminate hate activities. Municipalities may support multicultural festivals. Municipalities may develop immigration and settlement policies to coordinate their efforts to accommodate immigrants and ethno-cultural minorities both locally and intergovernmentally. (Good 2005, p 268) Source: Good 2005, p Agyeman, Wallace, Frisken and Good have developed indices to assess their particular research areas. While these authors did not develop a checklist, the recommendations and analysis they have developed are key to understanding the policies put in place by municipalities, to address issues of equity, justice and the integration of immigrants. By melding their indices together I will assess the extent to which Brampton and Surrey have been able to engage their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations in the development of their sustainability policies. As such, I have used their recommendations and their analyses to develop the JSI/MRR Checklist. Agyeman s JSI provides and 36

38 analytic tool to assess the extent to which the concepts of equity and justice have been implemented, while the municipal readiness/responsiveness scholars provide an analytic tool that examines the corporate capacity and culture of municipalities regarding how and what they are doing to address the challenges posed by immigrants and ethno-cultural communities to sustainability. (Table 4) Table 4: JSI/MRR Checklist Characteristics Indicator Measure Population Characteristics 1 Immigrants Have 25% or more of the residents in the municipality defined themselves as an immigrant or ethno-cultural minority, as defined by the Canadian Census? Just Sustainability Characteristics 2 Engagement Visible Minorities Language Spoken Most Often at Home Sustainability Policy Statement Sustainability Policy Social Equity and/or Justice Public Engagement Practices Have 25% or more of the residents in the municipality defined themselves as a visible minority, as defined by the Canadian Census? Are 25% or more of the municipality comprised of individuals where English is not the first language and commonly spoken in the home? Does the municipality have a commitment to sustainability demonstrated through the entrenchment of a sustainability policy statement? Does the sustainability policy statement of the municipality incorporate elements of social equity and/or justice? Are social equity and/or justice mentioned or prominent in the textual or programmatic content and material that the municipality has developed to educate their residents? Has the municipality developed and used deliberative public engagement approaches, tools and techniques, specifically designed to ensure 1 Population characteristic and indicators are based on the environmental justice community assessment tool, developed by Julian Agyeman, who has used them in the development of just sustainabilities. According to Agyeman, a JSI community is defined as a population which is determined to be at risk of being unaware of, or unable to participate in sustainable decision making processes. 2 For the purposes of this study social equity and justice refers to the degree of access that visible minorities have to decision making processes, as well as the measures put in place by municipalities to ensure that the rights of visible minorities are upheld and enshrined in policy. 37

39 Table 4: JSI/MRR Checklist Characteristics Indicator Measure the engagement of immigrants and ethno-cultural residents? Municipal Readiness and Responsiveness Characteristics Communication Community Based Organizations City Council Does the municipality offer oral or written language translation of services and education materials to its immigrant and ethno-cultural residents? Does the municipality connect with or partner with non-profit immigrant community service providers to inform the decision making process? Does the municipality s council encourage and support the engagement of residents who are immigrants and ethno-cultural minorities? I intend that the JSI/MRR checklist will provide a useful roadmap for planners, policy analysts, decision makers, service providers, and citizens to use as an evaluative framework in analyzing or assessing how well their municipality is doing in regards to social equity and justice issues. The checklist is meant to provide a rationale of who needs to be engaged and why. While there is no blueprint for what constitutes a sustainable community, since the visions and strategies of a sustainable community varies from place to place, I intend that the use of this checklist will highlight how inclusive municipalities are of their immigrants and ethno-cultural residents in their decision making processes regarding urban sustainable land-use. 38

40 4: THE DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF BRAMPTON, ONTARIO AND SURREY, BC To answer the research questions posed in this paper, the fourth chapter will explore the demographic composition of Brampton and Surrey. The statistical analysis will provide insight into the ethno-cultural make-up of both cities. As well, the statistical findings will provide evidence to support the first category presented in the JSI/MRR checklist. The population characteristics category of the JSI/MRR checklist measures the demographic characteristics of a municipality. The population characteristic section of the checklist measures three indicators, number of immigrants, number of visible minorities, and the language spoken most often in households. If a municipality exceeds 25% in each of the selected indicators of the population characteristics section of the checklist, the municipality will then have to develop just sustainability and municipal readiness policies to ensure that all residents are able to engage in policy development processes. 4.1 Ethno-cultural and Immigrant Residents Living in Brampton, Ontario and Surrey, British Columbia In 2006, immigrants comprised 19.8% of Canada s total population. Canada s total population, between 2001 and 2006 increased by 1.6 million people and translates into a 5.4% overall population growth. Immigrants who arrived in Canada between January 1, 2001 and May 16, 2006 contributed to 39

41 69.3% of this population growth. The majority of immigrants reside in urban agglomerations. According to the 2006 census, 94.9% of immigrants lived in either a census metropolitan area or census urban agglomeration. The 2006 census revealed that 3,891,800 (62.9%) of immigrants chose to live in the urban agglomerations or metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. The concentration of immigrants in these areas changed after Before then, population trends highlighted that immigrants were living in central urban areas rather then the suburbs; however, this trend seemed to change after 2001 when immigrants were choosing to more often reside in suburban municipalities. (Statistics Canada 2008a) Increased diversity in suburban cities presents unique challenges to both central urban areas and suburban municipalities, since funding for immigrant integration programs, by senior governments, has traditionally been allocated to central urban areas. In the past, suburban municipalities did not have to worry about integration and settlement issues for immigrants as immigrants were not present in these areas. However, the change in demographic trends highlights the need for suburban municipalities to develop culturally appropriate and sensitive programs, such as language translation, or diversified public engagement techniques, to ensure that all residents are able to contribute in the decision making processes of the municipality. Another issue that the demographic shift presents is around service provision by non-profit agencies in the business of providing integration and settlement services to newcomers. These service providers are generally located in central cities, which may be 40

42 hard for immigrants to access from their suburban homes. In some ways this represents a policy gap by senior levels of government, as their policies have not necessarily kept up with the demographic shifts of the nation. In short, they are providing funding to service providers in central urban areas to provide services for immigrants who increasingly live in suburban municipalities. So while immigrants have been moving to the suburbs, a trend that has largely been revealed by the 2001 and 2006 censuses, governmental policy focus and funding has largely remained the same. (Murdie 2008, p 11) The 2006 census revealed that approximately 5,068,100 Canadians defined themselves as a visible minority. Visible minorities accounted for 16.2% of Canada s overall population. Between 2001 and 2006 visible minorities increased by 27.2% in Canada. The 2006 census revealed that the visible minority population grew an estimated five times faster then the 5.4% growth rate of Canada s total population. This increase in visible minorities is attributed to recent immigrants where 75% of immigrants who arrived in Canada since 2001 identified themselves as visible minorities. (Statistics Canada 2008b) This changing population pattern bears out in Brampton and Surrey, and suggests the need for the development of increased services that are ethnocultural and immigrant specific for these municipalities. In 2001, Immigrants represented 40% of the City of Brampton s, and 33% of the City of Surrey s overall population. Approximately 40% of each municipality s overall population was a visible minority. By 2006, these numbers had changed dramatically for the City of Brampton, where 48% of the city s overall population identified 41

43 themselves as foreign born, an increase of 8% from the 2001 census, and 57% identified as a visible minority, an increase of 17%. In 2006, 38% of the residents living in the City of Surrey identified themselves as immigrants, which represented an increase of 5% from the 2001 census. As well the 2006 census revealed that 46% of Surrey s population identified themselves as a visible minority, an increase of 9% from the 2001 census. (Tables 6 & 7) Table 5: Immigration and Ethno-cultural diversity in the municipalities of Brampton and Surrey, 2001 Census City Total Population # Foreign Born # Foreign Born % Immigrated between Visible Minority # Visible Minority % Brampton 324, , % 43, , % Surrey 345, , % 47, , % **Based on Statistics Canada, 2001 Census of Population (Good, 2004; p 5) Table 6: Immigration and Ethno-cultural Diversity in the Municipalities of Brampton and Surrey, 2006 Census City Total Population # Immigrants # (Formerly Foreign Born) Immigrants % (Formerly Foreign Born) Immigrated between Visible Minority # Visible Minority % Brampton 433, , % 42, , % Surrey 394, , % 29, , % Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population 42

44 Table 7: Visible Minority Characteristics Brampton Surrey # of Total % of Total # of Total % of Total Population Population Population Population Total Population 433, % 394, % Immigrants 206, % 150, % Total Visible 246, % 181, % Minority Population Chinese 7, 805 2% 20, 210 5% South Asian 136, % 107, % Black 53, % 5, 015 1% Filipino 11, 980 3% 16, 555 4% Latin American 8, 545 2% 3, % Southeast Asian 6, 130 1% 9, 240 2% Arab 2, % 1, % West Asian 2, % 1, % Korean % 7, 665 2% Japanese % 2, % Visible Minority not included elsewhere Multiple Visible Minority Not a Visible Minority 8, 900 2% % 6, 095 1% 4, 395 1% 185, % 211, % Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population *Visible minority percentages are of total population. Both municipalities share a similar demographic makeup, where they have a diverse group and large numbers of visible minorities, where South Asians comprise the dominant ethno-cultural group. (Table 8) 43

45 Table 9: Language Most Spoken at Home Brampton Surrey # of Total Population % of Total Population # of Total Population % of Total Population Total 433, % 394, % Population English 292, % 265, % French 1, % % Non-official Language 118, % 109, % English and Non-official Language 18, 550 4% 15, 750 4% Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population Approximately 28% of the population in both Brampton and Surrey speak languages other than English at home, and approximately 68% of the population for each municipality speaks English as their first language at home. Given the numbers it would seem that English is the language of choice for most of the population in both municipalities. As such, language translation needs may not be that extensive. What the numbers may suggest are that literacy may be an issue, so municipal documents may use a level of English that may not be readily accessible by all residents. (Table 8) 44

46 5: THE CASE STUDY OF BRAMPTON IN THE AGE OF PROVINCE-WIDE SUSTAINABILITY In this next chapter, I develop the case study for the City of Brampton. The purpose of the case study will be to provide the necessary evidence to answer the research questions posed. In this section, I will examine Brampton s Official Plan (OP), the Province of Ontario s Places to Grow Act, the Growth Plan, the municipality s public engagement approach, and the views of municipal planners on the engagement of ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. The Brampton case study provides information on the city s implementation of sustainability. The case study will also examine the interview findings on the effectiveness of the corporate policies put in place to ensure that ethno-cultural and immigrant residents can engage in the policy development process. Brampton has been moving down the path of sustainable land-use development. The City in its Official Plan (OP) has articulated its need to move towards a sustainable future, through zoning and land-use measures. According to Brampton s mayor, Susan Fennell, the Official Plan is a product of what matters most to our citizens a well planned city offering an unparalleled quality of life that preserves and fosters our environment, heritage and economy. (The Brampton News 2008a) Brampton uses its OP as its primary tool to ensure that developers comply with sustainable land-use measures, as it has the legislative weight of the Ontario Planning Act. However, while Brampton s OP is seen as a 45

47 comprehensive policy document by the municipality that incorporates key elements of sustainable land-use development according to the Province of Ontario, the measures outlined in the OP did not go far enough. (City of Brampton Website a) The Province to ensure that sustainability was enshrined in land-use development enacted the Places to Grow Act and enacted policy to ensure that future development would have sustainable principles at the fore of the municipalities anticipated population growth. 5.1 Ontario s Places to Grow Act and Growth Plan Early in 2004, the Province of Ontario held public consultations with a wide variety of stakeholders across the province, with the intent of understanding the policy implications of population growth and what communities would need to do to accommodate it. Through its consultations, the Province developed and enacted the Places to Grow Act. The Act provides policy guidance and provincial directives that communities need to adopt in order to manage population growth and land development. The Act provides an overarching policy and outlines an approach that is meant to guide future land development in Ontario communities through the implementation of regional growth plans. The Act outlines that municipalities should increase densities in their already built up areas, create complete communities, and provide multi-modal transportation options for residents to curb sprawl. (Province of Ontario 2005c) In 2006, the Ontario Government handed down its policy direction for municipalities titled Places to Grow: a Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Growth Plan), the first plan adopted under the Places to Grow Act 46

48 (2005). The Growth Plan sets out how much population growth each regional government and municipality in the Golden Horseshoe area can accommodate. The Plan guides land development, finite resource management, and outlines where future public dollars will be invested. The Places to Grow Act requires municipalities to implement the policies of the Golden Horseshoe Report in their Official Plans by June The policy directive extends the Places to Grow Act by outlining what municipalities in the Golden Horseshoe had to do to be in compliance with the Act. The Golden Horseshoe Report sets out guiding principles, implementation and reporting guidelines for municipalities to adhere to. (Province of Ontario 2006) Brampton is part of the Golden Horseshoe Area, and through the report was legislated to become more sustainable in its land-use policies. In order to achieve the outcomes laid out in the Growth Plan, the Province established targets to which municipalities were required to conform. The targets outlined include population density, employment to support populations, land-use densities, and the establishment of an urban growth centre with a built boundary. (City of Brampton 2007b, p 3) As well, the Growth Plan speaks to the need for municipalities to recognize the diversity of their populations and communities, and for them to collaborate with sectors and stakeholders in the development of their OP. (ibid) The principles outlined in the Plan are interrelated and reinforce the vision of building vibrant, healthy, and prosperous communities. (ibid) 47

49 5.2 Brampton s Official Plan (OP) and the Growth Plan The Growth Plan demands municipalities to densify by mandating that 40% of all new residential units be built in brown-field areas of the City. (City of Brampton 2007b) Designated green-field areas are to achieve a density of 50 residents and jobs per hectare, so that they can support multi-modal transit options. (ibid) As well, municipalities are directed to build more diversified housing options that include medium and high density housing on undeveloped land, infill areas, and densify its existing communities. The policy has designated Brampton s downtown as a high density area and states that it should have 200 residents and jobs per hectare. The point of the Growth Plan is to ensure that municipalities in the Region of Peel are able to accommodate the anticipated 1,640,000 people and 870,000 jobs forecast for the region by (City of Brampton s website c) While Brampton had already been building and enacting policies to promote greater sustainability, the Province s legislated changes affected the direction that the City wanted to take towards addressing sustainability. In 2007, Brampton enacted a newly updated version of its Official Plan (OP), which had to be rewritten to accommodate the recommendations put forth in the Growth Plan. In order for the City s OP to conform with the Growth Plan, public consultations had to be held, as it is a requirement under the Ontario Planning Act that changes to the OP require the City to consult the public. According to John Corbett, the Commissioner of Planning, Design and Development for the City of Brampton, the Official Plan comes as a result of numerous consultations and 48

50 public engagement It provides us with all the tools [The consultations for the] Official Plan has brought together a variety of community partners, and has produced a very impressive spirit of partnership with many participants (The Brampton News 2008a). 5.3 Brampton s Strategy for Public Engagement In April 2007, City staff put forth a report to Council outlining the challenges and opportunities presented by complying with the Growth Plan. The report outlines a staged work-plan for the implementation of the Growth Plan guidelines. The report requests Council s permission to hire a consultant to oversee public education and awareness. According to the Council report Brampton has some large challenges around changing the mindsets of residents regarding sustainability. Among them, the emphasis on the reliance on public transit, walking and cycling and realizing the vision of reducing the use of personal automobiles is perhaps one of the greatest challenges (City of Brampton 2007b, p 16-17). The report states that while citizens are supportive of efforts to improve air quality and are frustrated with traffic congestion, there is not a common understanding and appreciation that continuing down our current path of outward expansion at very low densities results in increasing demands for additional road capacity, adding to air quality issues and greater infrastructure costs (ibid). The Council report also outlines the challenges of implementing the Growth Plan s intensification targets. The Growth Plan requires that growth occur without continued outward expansion, with the intent of making public transit 49

51 viable. City Staff in their report to Council outlined the challenges in articulating sustainability to auto-dependant residents. The Growth Plan presents the challenge of educating residents on being less reliant on their automobiles, while at the same time the City recognizes that effective and efficient public transportation is lacking. The issue of public transportation is a large issue given that resident modes of travel are interwoven in sustainable land-use policy development. As a result, the City decided the best way to shift the autodependant mindset of residents would be to employ the public engagement tactic of public education which used workshops and involved interactions between planning staff and community members. The devised engagement tactics are ones that are not generally thought of to be the most effective when engaging ethno-cultural and immigrant populations, given that they may have issues of trust towards public officials and language barriers that prevent them from participating in public engagement processes. 5.4 Mayor s Town Hall Meeting The City of Brampton s Planning, Design and Development Department was designated by Council to be the lead department in the City s Public Awareness and Engagement Strategy for the Growth Plan. The strategy outlines the City s methodology to inform residents and stakeholders of the Plan s requirements and how the City aimed to meet them. The public engagement program titled Brampton s Response to the Provincial Growth Plan was launched at the Mayor s Town Hall held on February 27, The meeting was preceded by an Open House where participants were able to review City projects 50

52 and have informal chats with city planners. An invitation to the town hall was mailed to all Brampton taxpayers. The town hall was attended by over 300 residents and stakeholders and it provided information on what the City had been doing, and what the City intended to do, to address the requirements imposed by the Growth Plan. The City invited Paul Bedford, former head of planning for the City of Toronto, who spoke to residents about the opportunities presented by the Growth Plan. Along with planning staff, Brampton s Mayor Susan Fennell spoke and outlined the Growth Plan and the challenges to its implementation. (City of Brampton 2008c) Participants at the meeting indicated that the City s ethnic diversity, multicultural festivals and foods were a positive attribute to living in Brampton. As well, participants indicated that the City had to do more in terms of balancing the needs of immigrants living in the municipality. (City of Brampton 2008c) The issues raised and highlighted are significant as residents enjoy having an ethnically diverse community yet the City seemed challenged in how they were to address the issues that such diversity raised. (City of Brampton 2008c) As well, participants commented on event feedback forms that the City needed to do more to engage the community in planning exercises and needed to educate the community on the benefits of participation. Many of the comments made at the public consultation reflected workshop participant dissatisfaction, with the City s communication materials, such as the posters, newsletter, brochure, PowerPoint and presentation. Participants felt that the writing on the communication materials was too small to read, the presented material was 51

53 difficult to understand due to the technical jargon used, and that planners needed to speak in layman terms. As well, there was a comment on the feedback form that indicated that the community newspapers, where the event was advertised, did not have a wide readership and did not reach all areas of the City. (Appendix 2) 5.5 City of Brampton s Introductory Workshop: a public consultation session to identify the Growth Plan s Challenges and Opportunities After the Mayor s Town Hall meeting, the City also held an introductory workshop for residents and key land developers on April 3rd, The workshop was facilitated by City staff members and consultants, where approximately 46 participants attended, and were given the opportunity to provide in-depth comments and ideas on what they felt the Growth Plan would mean for the City. City staff made a presentation to the attendees on the goals, policies and changes required by the Growth Plan, after which participants were invited to partake in structured breakout sessions. Participants were grouped into one of the following key Growth Plan goal areas: Creating Compact, Vibrant and Complete Communities; Supporting a Strong Competitive Economy; Optimizing Infrastructure to Support Growth, and; Protecting Natural Resources. Each of the groups were then asked to discuss and provide feedback on their assigned goal. (City of Brampton 2008c, p 11) Once participants were split into eight groups, each was given a workshop workbook, a copy of the Growth Plan, a How should Brampton Grow? 52

54 pamphlet, pertinent schedules from the City s Official Plan, and a newsletter created for the stakeholder engagement process. The materials given were used to educate participants in their given policy goal area. As well, participants also had an opportunity to view information boards that were set up around the room and interact with planners before the event. Most of the participants in attendance had attended the Mayor s Town Hall meeting, so were informed about the Growth Plan requirements. Staff made presentations to the participants and each table was given the opportunity to provide feedback and solutions to the main group and in their workbooks, which were collected at the end of the event. (City of Brampton 2008c) Using the May 30, 2008 City Council report and its attached consultant s report, which condensed the comments made by participants at the workshop, the roundtables, participant workbooks and feedback forms, I was able to develop further insight into how participants felt about the chosen public engagement method employed by the City. Much of the feedback from the workshop articulated the desire on the part of participants for the City to educate the public about needs and benefits of sustainability. Participants commented that they felt that there was insufficient communication from the planning department to citizens, which affected the participation of residents in the engagement process. Participants further commented that the City need[ed] to do a better job at addressing the demographic shift of the municipality and that the City needed to support cultural initiatives. It was their estimation that the 53

55 demographic shift of the population was driving [the] demand for diversified housing forms and the need for affordable housing. (City of Brampton 2008c) Additional workshops were held which focused in greater detail on each of the four key policy areas of the Growth Plan. However, participant feedback information for those workshops were specifically geared towards the four policy agenda items and tended to reiterate the same points regarding the engagement practices of the City towards ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. (City of Brampton 2008c) 5.6 Public Awareness and Engagement Strategy The Public Awareness and Engagement Strategy employed by the City of Brampton was to involve the public, collect their feedback, and incorporate their input where applicable. The process was designed in a way to be as transparent as possible. All information and feedback collected from the consultations were placed on the City s website for residents to view, and an address was provided where additional responses could be made. To aid in the dissemination of information to the public and stakeholders, a brochure was developed, with a series of newsletters. As well, the City s website was kept up to date with information on Council meetings and information regarding the workshops. (City of Brampton 2008c, p 11) The communication materials developed for the consultation were distributed to key City facilities which included, recreation centres, libraries, and City Hall information areas. A paper copy of the fall newsletter and a copy of the brochure were provided to residents at each of the workshops. (Appendix 2) The City has also used the website as its 54

56 key communication tool with residents, by providing updates and key information regarding the Growth Plan. (City of Brampton 2008b) While the City made a concerted attempt to be as inclusive as possible in its process by providing residents every opportunity to learn and to provide feedback, the responses given at the consultations seemed to indicate that more education was needed. The subject of sustainability is complex, making it hard for residents to truly understand the implications to their daily lives. Part of the problem stems from the communication materials provided at the consultations, as much of it used complex and technical language to address the issue of sustainability. This has clear implications for individuals whose first language may not be English or for individuals who may not be literate. (Appendix 2) 5.7 Brampton City Planning Staff and Public Engagement Through interviews conducted with the City of Brampton s planning staff, I was able to discern that for them, public participation was seen as an important element of the City s decision making processes. The planners felt that the City placed a priority on obtaining public input. At the interview, one city planner relayed that through the planning public engagement process everybody who lives and works in Brampton gets invited to participate (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008). City staff felt that they were able to attain a broad spectrum of residents to participate in their public consultation process. (ibid) When asked, staff maintained that the broad public included recent immigrants, persons who have just moved to Brampton from other municipalities, or persons from other provinces who have migrated to the City. (ibid) Staff felt that they 55

57 made every effort to ensure that all residents were given an opportunity to participate. For the City s Growth Plan consultations, city planners stated that they placed advertisements for the event in ethnic and local newspapers, on bus shelters, and circulated flyers at City facilities such as recreation centers and libraries. (ibid) They pointed out that they made every effort to ensure that the City s website was kept up to date with all the latest information regarding the consultations. During the Mayor s Town Hall meeting, the planning staff stated that they were instructed by the Mayor to send out a direct mail invitation to every household in Brampton. (Appendix 2) The invitation provided information to residents about the Growth Plan initiative and asked residents to participate in the policy development process. According to the planners, the Mayor s Town Hall session was a regular event that was typically used for large policy issues, such as the Growth Plan compliance initiative. For the town hall the staff used a targeted communication approach, where they placed advertisements in ethnic newspapers. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008) When asked if ethno-cultural minorities and immigrant constituents posed a challenge to consultation sessions, city planners felt that immigrants posed the same challenges in the development of urban sustainable policies as other newcomers to the city. It was their estimation that newcomers tended to focus on their immediate needs. Once they are able to meet their basic needs, around housing, employment, developing community connections, and have lived in the municipality for a time they are more likely to begin engaging in civic processes. 56

58 The planners commented that the residents who tended to be most engaged in the big picture policy issues, such as sustainability, tended to be those residents who had lived in the City for a long time. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008) The planners stated that developing sustainability policies is challenging, as sustainable policy development is dealing with complex interrelated issues (ibid). It was felt among the planners that there was no easy way to communicate the issue [of sustainability] and its importance to residents as they are more focused on their day-to-day needs. The city planners stated that there were a lot of opportunities for all residents to participate in the policy or decision making process through public forums, meetings, workshops, , and letters, however that type of participation tends to come from long time established residents in the community. (ibid) The planners felt that immigrants tended to become more involved in public participation depending on the issue. It was their estimation that ethnocultural and immigrant residents tended to participate in consultations when the issue affected their day-to-day needs. They noticed that when the policy issue was large and broad in scope, like sustainability, immigrants and ethno-cultural groups tended to rely upon the views of their business and religious community leaders and would allow them to present their views at public meetings. The City of Brampton planners stated that they do not use diversified public consultation techniques, to engage their immigrant or ethno-cultural constituents. City Planners recognized that they tended to rely on the same public consultation approaches used to engage all residents. The planners found Brampton City 57

59 Council to be proactive, respectful and responsive to the needs of Brampton s ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. The planners further commented that Brampton City Council has made public engagement of ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents a priority, and tended to include the concerns and voices of immigrants in their decision making and policy development processes. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008) The findings presented here seem to contradict those findings presented by Good in 2005, who found that the City of Brampton was unresponsive to the needs of its immigrant constituents and to the ethno-cultural diversity of its population. Good found that Brampton s response to ethno-cultural diversity was limited to multicultural festivals and breakfast events with the mayor (p 272). In her estimation, multiculturalism in the City was left to the private sphere. Good further comments that the City was unresponsive to the changes, in the needs and preferences of their [ethno-cultural and immigrant] constituents (p 275). Good s study recognizes the influence that local leaders have in regards to the development of multiculturalism policies. In her interview with Mayor Susan Fennel, the Mayor indicated that financial constraints, governance structures, and service provision made it difficult and expensive to translate planning documents into minority languages (p280). As well, Good claims that municipalities do not want to involve themselves in multiculturalism policy unless they are pressured to do so and since pressure to respond to diversity is not forthcoming from the immigrant serving community, the business community or from long standing residents Local leaders in suburbs do not 58

60 appear to make multiculturalism policies a priority in the absence of overt race relations crisis (ibid). According to the City of Brampton planners, City Council has worked hard to be inclusive of its ethno-cultural and immigrant population in its decision making processes. While Good s study was conducted a few years before mine, Good s research has missed some of the key issues related to policy development at the local level of government. Key areas of policy development, which were present at the time that Good s study was conducted include, the role of multicultural advisory committees, the Mayor s Town Hall meeting, and the role of city planning staff, all of which were dismissed in her study. Good s work seemed to focus on the views of local politicians, rather then interviewing the practitioners in the field. As a result, her study missed key policy developments underway in the municipality. 5.8 Further Inclusive Policy Measures in Brampton Policies take time to evolve at the urban level of government. Brampton s ethno-cultural and immigrant population increased relatively quickly. The City has worked quickly since Good s (2005) study to address population growth, and has since instituted a formal corporate policy to address its many languages. In 2007 the City enacted a Multilingual Services Policy and Program, to enhance communications between the City and its multicultural residents. The policy establishes a population benchmark for determining translation of written communications. The policy states that written translation will be provided for languages spoken most often at home for at least five percent of the population. 59

61 As well, the City also provides verbal interpretation at its service counters, and has developed a staff contact list of staff members who can interpret in different languages. Since 2005 Brampton has had a Multilingual Telephone Service that provides twenty four hour interpretation services. The City has also ensured that residents are aware of these services through multilingual statements placed on its regular communications with residents, such as tax bills. (City of Brampton 2007a) While no evidence was introduced by the city planners that indicated the use of such policies, the presence of such policies indicate that the City of Brampton has at the very least thought of some of the pressing needs of its ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents. 60

62 6: THE CASE STUDY OF SURREY IN AN ERA OF COUNCIL CONSCIOUSNESS OF SUSTAINABILITY Like the City of Brampton, the City of Surrey has also been moving towards sustainable policy development. While Brampton s sustainability policy was very much a top-down approach driven by the Province of Ontario, Surrey s path to sustainability was more of a local initiative driven by its mayor and council. For the first part of this chapter I examine the Social Well-being Plan for Surrey Residents (Social Well-being Plan), as the plan articulates the City of Surrey s issue areas and the vision of the municipality around engaging its ethnocultural and immigrant residents. The second part of the chapter will explore the City of Surrey s engagement and policy development processes for the City s Sustainability Charter (Charter). The last part of the chapter will look at the Charter s public engagement process from the perspective of Surrey city planners. The point of this chapter is to examine the effectiveness of municipal corporate policies put in place to ensure that ethno-cultural and immigrant residents can participate in public consultations. 6.1 Social Planning in Surrey: An Action Plan for the Social Well-being of Surrey Residents and the Sustainability Charter In 2004 the City of Surrey started a process to develop an action plan dedicated to the Social Well-being of Surrey Residents. The consultation process and development of the plan took place from April 2004 to February 61

63 2006. The action plan focused on five theme areas, one of which was community development and diversity, and under each theme area priorities were identified and prioritized for staff s attention. (City of Surrey 2006, p1) It was felt by Social Planning staff that the engagement process for the development of the Social Well-being Action Plan had to be as inclusive as possible, as there was an awareness of the growing needs of an increased immigrant population. To achieve inclusivity the event was advertised in local newspapers, and a work-book and comment sheet were available online and in paper format, for participants to provide feedback on what they felt were the priority social issues that needed to be addressed in Surrey. (City of Surrey 2006, p1) One of the key priority actions mentioned was the need for more initiatives and processes, to increase citizen participation in addressing social issues. (City of Surrey 2006, p4) The social issues under this theme area indicate that residents recognized that the municipality needed to expand its consultation processes with communities on issues related to the well-being of its residents. There was also an awareness that new communication strategies were needed that were specific and aided in the sharing of information among stakeholders and the general public, as well participants wanted the municipality to recognize the diversity of languages spoken. (ibid) Specifically, participants identified that there was a need for the municipality to engage local and ethnic media outlets. (City of Surrey 2006, p 20) Another issue identified in the action plan was the need for the municipality to develop culturally appropriate services, opportunities and 62

64 programming. (City of Surrey 2006, p6) The report identified that there was a gap in service delivery and called for more culturally sensitive approaches to service delivery within municipal programs and a greater promotion of the benefits of cultural and ethnic diversity. (ibid) Again the priority area recognized that better communication and outreach was needed with ethno-cultural communities and organizations, and called for a strategic plan to be developed that looked at fostering inclusiveness among the ethno-cultural groups living in Surrey. (ibid) Participants called for the municipality to build on the diversity that exists within Surrey, by having more intercultural festivals. (City of Surrey 2006, p26) As a result, the City developed a Multicultural Advisory Committee in The Committee was established with a focus of enhancing multicultural harmony and inter-cultural cooperation in the City. (City of Surrey 2008c) One of the Committee s achievements has been the development of a three-day long Fusion Festival, which represented more then 40 cultural groups, and included food, music, costumes and dance. (ibid) Given the public feedback during the consultation process, the Multicultural Advisory Committee interpreted the needs of ethno-cultural groups and immigrants in a way that promoted the celebration of song and dance. Little emphasis was paid to the long-term integration needs of ethno-cultural minorities, immigrants and new Canadians in the municipality. The City melded the social issues, identified in its action plan, into the Sustainability Charter. The Sustainability Charter, is a policy document developed by the City to ensure that all future decisions made at the City would be made in line with the principles of sustainability. (City of Surrey 2008c) In the 63

65 Charter, the City commits to furthering the objectives of the Social Well-being Plan. The plan encourages citizen engagement in issues related to social policy and social planning as a means to build community capacity. (ibid) The Charter appears to have a number of areas where the needs of the City s ethno-cultural and immigrant populations are recognized and their issues enshrined as action items for the City to work towards. In the Charter there is a policy statement that recognizes the importance of ethnicity and culture in Surrey. The Charter states that, cultural activities are important ways for individuals to contribute in their communities. As such the City in the Charter commits to build on community strengths by organizing and participating in celebratory events such as festivals and culinary celebrations (City of Surrey 2008d, p 35) However, while the Social Well-being Plan has been adopted since 2005, little has been documented on how well the City has been able to meet the commitments set out in the key issue areas outlined in the plan. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) The City has incorporated the Social Well-being plan and the identified social issue areas into the Sustainability Charter. There are two priority social issue areas which are of interest: initiatives to encourage citizen engagement with social issues and social planning activity to build community capacity and, the need to develop ethnically and culturally appropriate and inclusive services, opportunities and programming. (City of Surrey 2008d, p 35) As well, the Charter goes further as it identifies the need for cultural awareness in the community and the need for the City to develop a community that is engaged in 64

66 the achievement of sustainability goals through the development of municipal outreach, public education and awareness. (City of Surrey 2008d, p 36) 6.2 Surrey s Sustainability Charter and Land-use Planning The City of Surrey s Sustainability Charter was developed to address City Council s concerns regarding the municipality s lack of a holistic plan to address sustainability. The Charter was seen by Council as a mechanism that would ensure that sustainability principles would be applied in all City operations and future policy development. (City of Surrey 2006a) Council in adopting staff s recommendation to develop the Charter consented to a three phase consultation process and the development of an implementation strategy for the Charter. (City of Surrey 2006a, City of Surrey 2006b) The report presented to City Council was one that inventoried and summarized the City s sustainability policies to date, provided an overview of sustainability in the municipal context, outlined alternative approaches to the promotion of sustainability policies, and recommended a course of action on how to engage and consult residents and various stakeholders needed to develop and endorse the Sustainability Charter. (City of Surrey 2006a) As well the report outlined the policy context and limitations of current municipal policies geared towards sustainability. Surrey s Official Community Plan (OCP), while containing a comprehensive set of sustainability policies and guidelines, to guide staff and developers, lacked targets which would enable staff to measure the success of the municipality towards achieving sustainability. The Charter differs from Surrey s Official Community Plan (OCP) as it is meant to be a holistic guide for 65

67 staff in the development of policy, guidelines and municipal projects, while the OCP contains comprehensive policies and guidelines intended for development and land-use in individual neighbourhoods. (City of Surrey 2008c) The key rationale of the OCP is for the municipality to develop complete, compact and energy-efficient communities, supported by multi-modal transportation alternatives which can be achieved through urban design and planning. The report found that a more consistent practice, such as the triple bottom line approach should be used to guide all future decision making in the municipality and ensure that any decisions made would be based on the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainability. (ibid) 6.3 The Sustainability Charter s Work-plan and Public Consultation Strategy Staff in their report to Council sought Council s approval on a work plan and the consultation approach to be used in the development of the Charter. At the very onset of the three phased approach, City staff outlined that they wanted to ensure that they received broad corporate and community support for the Charter. (City of Surrey 2008c) The first phase of the consultation process called for the creation of an interdepartmental steering committee, meetings with key stakeholders, meetings with City committees, and a report back to Council with a proposed definition of sustainability that would guide the development of the Charter. (ibid) The second phase, called for the development of the Sustainability Charter and implementation options, stakeholder input, and a report back to Council on a proposed Charter and implementation mechanisms. (ibid) Phase 66

68 three, outlined that staff would meet with stakeholders to develop an implementation strategy and report back to Council. (ibid) Public consultation was embedded throughout the whole process. While specific stakeholders were not mentioned, the report pays particular attention to engaging other levels of government, industry representatives, and utilities. City staff reported to Council on the consultation results of phase one on May 28, 2007, when Council directed staff to adopt the definition of sustainability outlined and asked staff to use this definition to guide the development of future policies. Council at the same time directed staff to proceed with phase two of the Charter consultations. (City of Surrey, 2007b) The scope and intent of the Charter, as outlined in the council report, was to incorporate sustainable practices into the corporate operations of the City, adopt sustainable practices in areas where the municipality had direct responsibility areas such as land-use, development approval, transportation planning and green buildings; and to promote sustainability in areas that affect the City, but are under the jurisdiction of other levels of government such as, provincial highways, building codes, federal/provincial infrastructure programs. (City of Surrey 2007a) Council endorsed the recommended definition, based on Brundtland s concept and addresses all three of the sustainability pillars. The definition of sustainability adopted by Surrey is: "the principle of meeting the needs of the present generation in terms of the environment, the economy and socio-cultural systems while promoting a high quality of life, but without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need" (City of Surrey 2008d, p 7). 67

69 The report outlined a number of items which were categorized under the social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainability based on public and key stakeholder consultations. The categorized items were then used as the basis for the development of the Charter, since they took into account policy issues that were currently underway at the City and blended them with new policy issues that the City had to address. Under the social pillar, policy issues such as cultural diversity in the workplace, the Plan for Social Well-being of Surrey residents, public engagement, and demographic changes in the City, were identified as areas which should be part of the Charter process. (City of Surrey 2008d) Land-use planning and development were captured under the environmental pillar of sustainability. The report was successful in creating a definition of sustainability to be used by the municipality and narrowed the scope that the Charter would address. 6.4 Sustainability Charter s Public Consultation Process The City held a Sustainability Fair on June 8th and 9th of 2007, which was a consultative process geared at educating residents on the concept of sustainability and the measures that the City had taken to date that were deemed sustainable. The fair was designed to be the broad public engagement process that staff had outlined as part of phase two of the needed consultations. Phase two was geared at obtaining feedback and support from the general public and key stakeholders on the development and content of the Charter and the implementation plan. (City of Surrey 2008d) The fair was held over a weekend, with a town hall event held on Friday night, where the Mayor and City staff 68

70 members along with featured speakers from the David Suzuki Foundation, the Fraser Basin Council, International Centre for Sustainable Cities and VanCity, spoke to the benefits of sustainability and the development of a charter. (ibid) On June 9th a full day of events took place starting with an open house and a series of workshops based on the three pillars of sustainability. All of the events and consultations were meant to inform the overall development and content of the Charter. (ibid) During the key stakeholder consultation, participants commented that social sustainability needed to be part of the Charter, and that social integration needed to happen in the urban environment. In fact, one participant mentioned that social sustainability may be best related to as the health of the urban environment, minus the built form. (ibid) This statement seems to infer that the consultation lacked a sufficient awareness of the social aspects of sustainability, despite the fact that the City had addressed social sustainability in its Social Well-being plan. The statement is an important one, since the City would have residents believe that by addressing and correcting policies around the economic and environmental pillars of sustainability then true sustainability can be achieved, the statement calls this into question. There is an acknowledgement in the statement that the three pillars of sustainability are interwoven and as a result have to be addressed simultaneously, as no sustainability pillar can override the other. Another participant commented that there are three components to sustainability, as follows: social, economic, environment social should be at the front sustainability is a new way to see our community and the world a more 69

71 specific definition: social refers to social justice, economic refers to financial maintenance, and environment refers to environmental conservation and restoration. The activities of the City of Surrey must balance all three components (City of Surrey 2008d) The quoted participant s comments articulate the issues that Agyeman reconciles in his definition of just sustainability, where he recognizes that the components of equity and justice need to be the point of departure in the development of sustainable policies. While there was not an abundance of participant commentary related to the engagement of ethno-cultural and immigrant populations, many of the comments made by participants addressed issues related to sustainable landuse development, where social and cultural realities are seemingly ignored and are not seen to be part of sustainability. (City of Surrey 2008d) The feedback captured demonstrates that there was awareness by some community members, of the importance of social sustainability issues in Surrey and how the Charter should be designed in a way to be inclusive of the needs of ethno-cultural minority and immigrant residents. At the City Council meeting held on September 29th, 2008, Council endorsed City staff recommendations to proceed with phase three of the Charter consultation process. Staff provided Council with a summary of the sustainability fair public engagement process, and presented Council with a draft of the Charter. (City of Surrey 2008d) According to the report, there were upwards of 120 people at the fair. Staff also conducted web and paper surveys, where participants were asked to provide feedback on what they felt the scope and 70

72 priorities of the Charter should be. During the social sustainability workshop held on June 9th, 2008, participants of the workshop were placed into three groups where they were asked specific solution-oriented questions. Participants were asked what would a socially sustainable Surrey look like in 20, 50 or 100 years? What are the values, features? What would it look like? (City of Surrey Website 2007) Responses were categorized and then made into a report. Participants felt that tolerance for ethnic diversity was important, town centres needed to be designed to meet the needs of immigrants, stressed the importance of sharing cultures and the need to integrate cultural experiences. (City of Surrey Website 2007) Under the community spirit category, participants felt that a feeling of community involvement was needed among residents, there needed to be more involvement in community activities, and residents needed to be more engaged versus merely living in the municipality. For the participation category, participants felt that the city should support and encourage the meshing of cultural events, and there should be greater and diversified inclusion tactics employed to engage immigrant populations. The workshop notes indentified that the responsibility for social policy was outside of the domain of the city and rested with senior levels of government. As well, the notes revealed that most of the issues articulated in the workshop were being dealt with under the Plan for Social Well-Being of Residents. The workshop notes also spoke to the challenges that the municipality had in engaging their under represented populations and vulnerable communities. (ibid) 71

73 In conjunction with the efforts of staff, the Mayor also held four meetings related to the development of the Charter, including one on social sustainability. (City of Surrey 2008b) Notes from the Mayor s workshop on social sustainability indicate that participants felt that community social capacity should be built into the Plan for Social Well-being of Residents. Participants also felt that food needed to be included under community cultural awareness, as food plays a significant role in cultural festivals. (City of Surrey Website 2008) Participants also demonstrated concerns over the lack of citizen engagement in the Charter, and the tools necessary to increase citizen participation. (ibid) There was a consensus among the participants that the Charter should have an expanded section on citizen involvement in government processes. (City of Surrey Website (2008) During the Mayor s meeting on the Review of the draft Sustainability Charter, a participant raised the issue that the Charter lacked a multicultural presence and suggested that the document be reviewed by the Multiculturalism Advisory Committee. (ibid) Interestingly, participants also noted that the public engagement process was not culturally sensitive and expressed concerns over the language used in the consultation boards, information flyers and presentations. The concerns expressed were warranted as the boards were highly sophisticated in language and understanding of sustainability was dependant on participants having some form of general knowledge or understanding of sustainability. (Appendix 3) 72

74 6.5 Surrey Planning Staff and Public Engagement The Surrey city planners felt that there were many challenges to engaging residents regardless of their ethno-cultural background, as the City is large in terms of its physical and population size. Some of the challenges presented had to do with the fact that the City is working on a range of complex policy issues with large planning processes attached to them, which impact all communities in the municipality. In terms of engagement, the City has worked hard to be inclusive of its diverse communities through the development of various committees and sub-committees set up to advise and inform City Council. The memberships on these committees were ethnically diverse. The Planners I spoke with indicated that this was a deliberate attempt on Council s part, as they wanted to ensure that the views of all the City s residents were taken into account in decision making. In essence, committee members played a representational role for their ethnic communities, given the diverse nature of many of the communities in Surrey. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) One policy program that was highlighted in the thirty-two action items set out in the Sustainability Charter was the Human Resources Department s (HR) Cultural Opportunities Work-plan. The work-plan was developed as a means to make civic facilities welcoming for staff of diverse cultures as well as for individuals using City facilities. HR has been instrumental in creating a workplace that appreciates the cultural festivities of their ethnically diverse workforce. On culturally specific occasions, like the Lunar New Year, the department sends out 73

75 an to all staff that outlines the significance of the event and a short history. Depending on the event, a short celebration is held where employees are invited to share in the food and music of the ethno-cultural group. The planners I spoke with felt that this was an initiative that has helped to build awareness among staff about one another and the communities they served in Surrey. As well, the City has worked towards building multiculturalism into job descriptions, where people have the job mandate of making their facilities inclusive of other cultures. An example of this can be found in the library and parks and recreation departments of the City, where a librarian has been hired with the specific purpose of expanding the multicultural reading collection, and a parks employee has been hired with the role of outreach to various ethno-cultural communities in the City. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) As well, the planners felt that the BC government s new program titled Welcoming and Inclusive Communities, would aid in engaging ethno-cultural groups in the municipality. The program acknowledges that the settlement and integration of newcomers is a two-way process, as integration is about newcomers adapting to Canada as well as communities being inclusive and welcoming to newcomers. The program provides communities in BC with funding to develop action plans and take action in developing welcoming communities for newcomers. The program has been instrumental in developing a community dialogue about the needs of immigrants in Surrey communities. The planners that I spoke with felt that when it came to development and land-use Surrey was unique as much of the development and construction 74

76 community in Surrey are South Asian. In fact, one of the city planners that I spoke with commented that a very large chunk of the development and construction community is South Asian in Surrey. So, when you talk about participation and bringing them into a consultative process, regarding land-use, a lot of them have no choice, as they are probably the subject of the public hearing themselves. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) One of the Planners that I spoke with commented that: we tend to see the men of the South Asian community in the development process. Interestingly, and I will be a little politically incorrect when stating this, I would say that culturally many of them are not used to the consultative process that the legislation requires and that the City would like to undertake. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) In the development of the Sustainability Charter, planners commented that they did not visually see any ethno-cultural minority groups at the meetings, despite the fact that many groups were invited to attend. The planners commented that, in the development of the Sustainability Charter itself, we did not have a large number of visible minorities coming out to the meeting, although we did invite various groups and we appeared at all committees. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) It is important to note here, that the City does not quantify participants according to their ethnic group, and so much of the information around the consultation exercise comes from the perceptions and memories of the municipal staff members. Staff members commented that visible minorities and immigrant constituents tended to participate in public consultations that affected their 75

77 neighbourhoods directly. One planner commented that, in the process of doing area plans and being consultative around development applications, there is a very visible and ongoing component of minority groups coming out to participate in the process.. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) Where planners felt that they saw more ethno-cultural diversity was at public meetings geared at the development of neighbourhood area plans and other issues that affected the day-to-day lives of residents. There was an acknowledgement that language was an issue for many residents and that the City had a long way to go in terms of translating its documents. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) According to the planners I spoke with, Surrey was not unlike a lot of the municipalities in the Lower Mainland, where there is not a presence of strong neighbourhood groups or associations that planners could consult on about neighbourhood issues. It was noted during the interview that the City is hampered financially with regards to the amount of resources it can dedicate to outreach, and specific outreach that targets the needs of their immigrant residents who face complex and interrelated barriers in terms of language and civic processes. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) One comment of note was the acknowledgement by city planners, that perhaps sustainability and the way that it has been defined, is euro-centric. Sustainability is often defined as a problem of providing smaller units and smaller homes it does not necessarily take into account that different cultures live in a multigenerational family context. Multiple generations who live in one large 76

78 household have the ability to share cars, childcare, and costs. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) This comment is telling as there appears to be the acknowledgement that the concept of sustainability is othering and does not take into account the views and needs of ethno-cultural minorities. When asked, city planners commented that Surrey City Council has been highly supportive of the attempts of municipal staff to be inclusive of ethnocultural groups in decision making processes. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) According to the planners, Council has in fact been the leader in much of the work around public engagement of ethno-cultural groups. There seems to be a growing awareness that visible minorities in Surrey, especially South Asian constituents, can no longer be considered the minority population given the groups population size in the municipality. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) What seems to be the challenge is integrating communities with one another, as opposed to it being one group s dominance over the other. 77

79 7: DISCUSSION As Agyeman and Evans (2004) have stated, in order for cities to be environmentally sustainable they also have to be socially sustainable (p 160). Agyeman and Evans go further to explain that unless analyses of development [local, national, or international] begin not with the symptoms, [of] environmental or economic instability, but with the cause, social injustice, then no development can be sustainable (ibid). Using this analysis as the starting point, I have developed the JSI/MRR checklist that aids in measuring what the cities of Brampton and Surrey are doing to engage the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents in the development of their sustainability policies. Secondly, I have interviewed city planners, analysed council minutes and policy documents as a means to understand how effective the cities of Brampton and Surrey have been in engaging the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. What follows is an analysis of how the cities of Brampton and Surrey have been able to meet the indices presented in the JSI/MRR checklist, and a discussion on the effectiveness of the policy mechanisms put in place by each municipality to ensure the engagement of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. 78

80 Table 8: JSI/MRR Checklist Findings for the Municipalities of Brampton and Surrey Categories Indicator Brampton Surrey Population Characteristics Immigrants Represent 48% of the overall municipal population. Represent 38% of the overall municipal population. Visible Minorities Represent 57% of the overall municipal population. Represent 46% of the overall municipal population. Just Sustainability Characteristics Language Spoken Most Often at Home Sustainability Policy Statement Sustainability Policy 68% of the municipal population speaks English at home, and 27% of the municipal population speaks neither English nor French at home. Brampton does not have an official sustainability policy statement. However, the Province of Ontario s Places to Grow Act (2005) and its Growth Plan, calls for the municipality to adopt and implement sustainable measures, in its Official Plan, that are consistent with sustainable development. No, Brampton does not have a sustainability policy statement where the elements of social justice and equity have been incorporated. Despite the implementation of the Growth Plan recommendations, the municipality has failed to develop an overarching sustainability policy statement that will address the social pillar of sustainability. 67% of the municipal population speaks English at home, and 28% of the municipal population speaks neither English nor French at home. Surrey as of October 2008 has adopted its Sustainability Charter, where it outlines actions, timeframes and implementation measures for the municipality to follow as it moves towards becoming sustainable. The Charter defines the meaning of sustainability, as well as different areas that it is to be achieved. Yes, the Sustainability Charter states a number of actions and objectives which are consistent with the notions of equity and justice. Notions such as enhancement of cultural awareness, and the improvement of the social wellbeing of Surrey residents. Social Equity and/or Justice No, Brampton does not have a sustainability policy. Nor has the municipality used the concepts of social equity or justice in any of its programmatic material related to its sustainable policy development process. Yes, the notion of social equity and justice while not explicitly mentioned in the Charter is implicitly referred to in the action items presented. 79

81 Table 8: JSI/MRR Checklist Findings for the Municipalities of Brampton and Surrey Categories Indicator Brampton Surrey Engagement Public Engagement Practices Communication No, the municipality has not developed or used deliberative public engagement approaches, tools and techniques, specifically designed to ensure the engagement of immigrants and ethno-cultural residents in the development of its sustainable land-use policy. However, under the Planning Act of Ontario, there are provisions related to public engagement, in the advent of their being a change in the OP of the municipality. Yes, the City of Brampton has a Multilingual Services Policy and a Multilingual Telephone Service, where residents are able to call and get the translation of key documents, find out about municipal services and by-laws. However, there is no evidence that these services where used during the Growth Plan public engagement sessions. No, the municipality has not developed and used deliberative public engagement approaches, tools and techniques, specifically designed to ensure the engagement of immigrants and ethno-cultural residents in the development of its sustainable landuse policy. However, under the Local Government Act and the Community Charter, any change in land-use calls for the municipality to engage the public. No, the City of Surrey has stated that they do not have the financial capacity to translate documents as the service is too expensive. It was felt that to simply translate for the largest group and not for others would not be fair. In fact, the City felt that engagement was more about where public meetings were held. It was the opinion of those interviewed that residents were more likely to access and engage in public meetings, when meetings were held in the affected neighbourhoods. Municipal Readiness and Responsiveness Characteristics Community Based Organizations City Council Yes, Brampton has often deliberately sought the counsel of non profit groups as well as community leaders to inform their public engagement processes. Yes, Brampton City Council has been responsive, respectful and understanding of the needs of immigrants and Yes, during the consultation process for the Sustainability Charter over 65 groups were contacted so that they would be able to speak about their concerns. Sadly, many of the organizations invited did not attend the consultation. As well, the planners at the City consulted with the municipalities various committees to ensure that all voices were heard. Yes, Surrey City Council has made an effort to be inclusive of immigrants and ethno-cultural groups in the municipality. In fact 80

82 Table 8: JSI/MRR Checklist Findings for the Municipalities of Brampton and Surrey Categories Indicator Brampton Surrey ethno-cultural diversity in the municipality. As well, Council has set up an Advisory Committee, made up of members that are able to represent the needs of ethnocultural and immigrant constituents. The advisory committee is dedicated to advising Council and staff on the needs of ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. the municipality has developed a literacy plan in conjunction with its Social Well-being Plan for Surrey Residents. However, the municipality has failed to develop a Multilingual policy. Using the JSI/MRR Checklist, it is clear that both Brampton and Surrey need to engage their ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents. Both municipalities have a visible minority and immigrant population that exceeds 25% of their overall municipal population. In fact Brampton s visible minority population constitutes more then half of its residents; while Surrey s visible minority population is close to 50% of its municipal population. In each municipality South Asians comprise the largest ethno-cultural group. The numbers presented indicate that there is a clear need for Brampton and Surrey to develop sustainability policies that can address the equity and justice dimensions of just sustainability, to ensure that all relevant constituents can access, voice and can participate fully in the decision making of their municipality. The JSI/MRR Checklist has demonstrated that both Brampton and Surrey are committed to the development of sustainable policies and by-laws that will guide future development in their municipalities. The checklist has demonstrated that there are many similarities between Brampton and Surrey. However, 81

83 interviews with municipal planners revealed that each municipality is still struggling with the challenges of becoming more sustainable and including the voices of their ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents in their policy development. While there were differences in the way that sustainability policies were enacted in each municipality, it was clear that in order for sustainability to be achieved, residents needed to be part of the process and that differing engagement tactics were needed to ensure that ethno-cultural and immigrant residents could participate. In Ontario, the Province was instrumental in ensuring that Brampton started to consider higher densities then were already present in the City s Official Plan (OP). While Brampton did not have a sustainability policy statement, the City had infused sustainable development practices throughout its OP. When asked why the City did not develop a Sustainability Charter or a sustainability policy statement, the planners responded that there was not a need as the OP had the legislative weight of the Planning Act behind it, thereby ensuring that sustainability was enforced and developers would have to comply. While this may be the case for developers, the OP lacks the legislative weight required to guide the municipality itself in ensuring that the social elements of sustainability are adhered to throughout its municipal decision making processes. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008) Surrey on the other hand, decided to go down the route of sustainable development at the instigation of its Council. The City of Surrey planners, when asked why the municipality decided to develop a Sustainability Charter rather then extending the reach of the City s Official 82

84 Community Plan (OCP), responded that it was at the will of Council that the Charter was developed and that the Charter was an overarching policy document meant to guide future municipal decisions. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) Both documents seem to focus on land-use development. To be fair, Surrey does have an Action Plan for the Social Well-being for Surrey Residents, however the key social issue areas read like guiding principles with no action items attached. As a result, the municipality is not directed to measure the effectiveness of those principles. It is my estimation that the social sustainability aspects of the Charter lack the targets and implementation guidelines that were handed down for the economic and environmental aspects of the document. Brampton on the other hand, does not appear to have any policies dedicated to the social pillar of sustainability. According to Fainstein (2006) Open processes do not necessarily produce just outcomes (p 13). In the consultative processes in both Brampton and Surrey, the open processes used to elicit input by the public in their sustainable policy development did not necessarily produce just outcomes for all residents, since ethno-cultural and immigrant residents did not attend and their voices where not heard. This seems to be consistent with other analyses of the planning discipline. Wallace and Milroy (1999) have noted that neither the literature nor the practice of planning has been instructive on how planners should plan for difference (p 55). There was a clear recognition by the planners of Brampton and Surrey, that ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents tended 83

85 not to come out to large scale policy processes, yet neither municipality sought to compensate for this issue in their consultation design. Both the Mayor s Town Hall in Brampton and the Sustainability Fair in Surrey were held in the downtown core of each municipality, despite the fact that the planners of both municipalities commented that they tended to see more ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents attend neighbourhood planning processes. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008; Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) This analysis is consistent with Sandercock (2003c) who looks at place identification and a sense of belonging to place. Sandercock states that a sense of belonging to a place is inseparable from the ties to the particular human community that inhabits that place (p135). According to Sandercock, immigrants have a strong need for community, as the community serves the practical and emotional support of immigrants. Again this seems to substantiate the comments made by the planners interviewed in both Brampton and Surrey. In both municipalities the planners identified that ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents tended to participate in planning processes when processes were located in their neighbourhoods. This is interesting considering that each municipality chose to hold their consultations in a central downtown location, far away from spatially concentrated ethno-cultural and immigrant neighbourhoods. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008; Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) It is hard to assess the number of ethno-cultural or immigrant participants who attended the public consultations in Brampton and Surrey, as neither 84

86 municipality require participants to declare their ethnicity. The Surrey planners commented that the consultation process used for the Sustainability Charter, while extensive, did not have the participation of immigrants or ethno-cultural groups. While the views and participation of such groups were sought, by inviting representatives of immigrant service providers in the community, community leaders, and advisory committees to Council, no one from the invited groups attended. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008; Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) City planners could not explain this absence, since these groups were all given the opportunity several times throughout the consultation process to provide feedback on the documents and the processes themselves. Planners for each municipality made the observation that it was hard to get ethno-cultural and immigrant constituents to participate in public meetings that looked at broad in scope policy issues. It was their estimation that people were more likely to attend consultations that directly dealt with their day-to-day lives. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008; Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) Neither municipality had designed deliberative public engagement practices geared towards ensuring that immigrants and ethno-cultural groups could participate in decision making processes. The planners in Surrey felt that public engagement was a matter of where the public consultations were held. It was their views that the closer the meetings were to where the people lived and who they were trying to reach, the greater turnout they would get from all groups. (Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) This finding seems to indicate that 85

87 the planners in Surrey were aware of how to engage their diverse residents, yet they chose not to make this client-centric engagement approach as part of their consultations for the Sustainability Charter. A paradox emerges, as the lack of input from ethno-cultural and immigrant residents at large scale public consultations regarding sustainability is read as disinterest in the development of such policies. Municipalities interpret ethno-cultural and immigrant groups lack of input as disinterest in the subject matter and elect to not invest in the development of deliberative public engagement processes geared towards eliciting the participation of these underrepresented and marginalized groups. The flip-side of the paradox is that ethno-cultural and immigrant residents do participate in consultations held in their neighbourhood on issues that affect their day-to-day lives. The challenge seems present itself on how planners can unpack the complexities of sustainability in such a way that speaks to the day-today realities of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents, in their neighbourhoods, where they are known to participate. Each municipality differed in the adaptation of their sustainability policies. For the City of Brampton sustainability was more of a top-down approach led by the Province of Ontario. In Surrey, sustainability was more of a middle-up approach, led by Mayor and Council. What is striking is how little the concept of engaging immigrants or ethno-cultural minorities played in the policy development process, given the demographic makeup of each municipality. Each municipality enacted a number of corporate policies to address the issues of equity, however they failed to apply these policies when designing and 86

88 implementing their public consultations. In my estimation, part of the issue is related to how the planners were personally invested in the engagement process. The planners I spoke with were all part of the dominant culture, so for them the notion of a segmented approach to engagement was just outside of their experiential norm. This issue is tied to the notion of a homogeneous public interest, where the needs of the dominant group are superimposed onto all cultures. It is my estimation, having looked at both of the materials handed out at each of the engagement sessions, the planners planned their processes with themselves in mind, forgetting that their audience may not have had the sophisticated and technical knowledge of sustainability needed to participate. The use of technical jargon as a means to educate sustainability principles is othering. I believe that the reliance on technical language had the effect of excluding residents who do not possess a theoretical interest in the subject. (Appendices 2 & 3) As well, neither municipality chose to translate documents further excluding and othering those residents whose English language proficiency where not to the level needed to understand the sophisticated and technical level of English used. This is also evident in the materials handed out at each event. (Appendices 2 & 3) The City of Brampton has a Multilingual Services Policy and Program, which addresses a percentage of the ethnic population where staff can then choose to translate municipal documents. On the other hand, the planners in Surrey admitted that the translation of municipal documents was not a practice that they followed, as the expense was too great. It was felt that if they were to 87

89 translate documents for their largest ethno-cultural group that other groups in the municipality would start to want the same, and they just could not afford it. Brampton also made the effort to advertise public consultation in the South Asian local newspapers, like the Brampton Guardian. Whereas the planners in Surrey felt that they did not use ethno-cultural media outlets to their best advantage, in fact they were not aware of ever using them as a means to advertise their public consultations. This was surprising to me, considering the thirty-two action items outlined in the Sustainability Charter. The Charter called for more accessibility and inclusion, yet how can that really be achieved when key or core municipal documents needed to understand the policy development process were not translated, or written in a level of English where all residents could readily comprehend or understand. (Interview with City of Brampton Planners, 2008; Interview with City of Surrey Planners, 2009) Of note is the issue that cities have more then one public policy issue on their agenda. Planners in each municipality commented that they were dealing with a number of large policy issues, which required consultation at the same time. While it was never stated, this seemed to imply that they did not necessarily have the time that was needed to conduct detailed and deliberative consultation approaches. The comment adds further complexity to the analysis on the translation of documents as lengthy policy documents take time and money to translate. Both municipalities had a number of committees and sub-committees that they were able to go to for advice and counsel on the policy initiatives that they 88

90 were developing. The planners at Surrey mentioned that these advisory bodies were engaged in a two way process where they were able to present their policy concerns and the committee members would come back to them with feedback once they had consulted with members of their communities. Each committee had member representation of ethno-cultural groups, in particular members of the South Asian community were sought to represent those particular voices. Brampton and Surrey have both come a long way in addressing ethnocultural diversity in their municipalities since the studies of Good, Frisken and Wallace were first conducted. Sadly, they have not gone far enough given that each municipality has growing numbers of ethno-cultural and immigrant populations yet they have failed to ensure that all voices in their municipality are heard in their policy development processes. Time needs to be invested in the creation of deliberative and strategic consultative methods, methods that will ensure that all residents can participate in the development of public policies that affect the lives of each and every one of their constituents. Sustainability is more then retrofitting bricks and mortar, it is more then even the way which land is zoned. Sustainability can only work if all members of our society fully understand and partake in the development of solutions. 89

91 8: CONCLUSION Good governance is essential in order for just sustainability to work in a municipality, and means the purposeful involvement of citizens and stakeholders in all aspects of the planning, organizing and most importantly the decision making when developing sustainable policies at the local level of government. (Agyeman and Evans 2004, p 162) Governance has to mean more then just involving those citizens who are already represented in the policy development process, and it means ensuring that underrepresented constituents, such as ethno-cultural and immigrant residents, are given greater access in decision making. The task is to ensure that all voices have a say, and specifically that the underrepresented are encouraged to develop a higher profile in the policy development process. (ibid) To this end an equity-based approach would be advantageous for municipalities adopt, as it recognizes that people are not all the same, and that planning procedures should be flexible enough to incorporate the concept of cultural difference. (Goonewardena, Rankin and Weinstock 2004, p 13) An equity based approach to public engagement would also ensure that municipalities are responsive to all of their residents, in particular their ethnocultural and immigrant constituents. In municipalities where the majority of a municipal population is comprised of visible minorities, it is important that municipalities start to invest time and monies in being more responsive to the 90

92 needs of their marginalized populations. Below, I have catalogued some of the best practices gleaned in the course of this paper, and have formulated them into policy recommendations that municipalities should consider adopting. (Table 11) Given the rising levels of immigration, where the numbers of ethno-cultural and immigrant residents in municipalities are increasing, it is important for municipalities to develop public engagement processes that are reflective and responsive to their publics. Table 9: Policy Recommendations for Municipalities Wanting to Engage their Ethno-cultural and Immigrant Residents Category Engage Non-profit Service Providers, Business and Community Leaders Recommendation It is important for municipalities to maintain contact with the non-profit service providers that serve ethno-cultural and immigrant residents in the community. As they often times are closest to the community members to be served and can often times speak to their needs, or can make crucial introductions to community leaders. Municipalities will also need to engage local ethnic businesses and community leaders for their community consultations, as they can relate the views of their communities or ensure that ethno-cultural and immigrant residents are made aware of public consultations. Recruit Advisory Committee Members Municipalities should create multicultural advisory committees that can advise council and municipal staff on issues that relate to the communities that they serve. As well, it is also important that municipalities ensure that existing municipal committees are representative of their ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. Update Corporate Policies to Reflect Diversity Demographic Analyses Municipalities should develop multicultural hiring policies, that advocate an inclusive workplace. It is also important that municipalities develop policies that encompass anti-racism and intercultural relations, and have procedures in place for mediation and reconciliation should such instances occur. Municipalities need to routinely analyse the demographic makeup of the municipal population. Most especially they will need to ascertain the percentage of their population comprised of their ethno-cultural and immigrant residents. A demographic analysis conducted at the neighbourhood level will allow for municipalities to discern spatially concentrated areas of the municipality where ethno-cultural and 91

93 immigrant residents live. Conducting a demographic analysis of the municipal population will help to ascertain the level of need of this underrepresented population to ensure that they are best met. Communication Develop municipal communication policies that are representative of all residents, including municipal ethno-cultural and immigrant populations. The communication policy should incorporate some sort of translation service, where residents can discuss difficult issues with their municipality in the language of their choice. The communication policy should also incorporate the ways that staff should market municipal events. It is important for public consultations to be advertised in local media in particular ethnic newspapers and radio stations. Ensure that information about public consultations are located in areas where ethno-cultural and immigrant residents frequent, such as community centres, local libraries, schools, bus shelters, City Hall and municipal websites. Translation of Municipal Documents Analyse the demographic makeup of the municipal population to discern the languages most spoken in the home by municipal residents. Municipalities should then translate municipal documents in the languages most spoken in the homes of their municipal residents. Translation of documents may not be the most efficient option for all municipalities. However, it is important that where possible that municipal staff develop documents and literature using language that is at a grade eight level of English comprehension, so that all residents will be able to comprehend the information. It is also important that municipal staff rely less on technical jargon, as such jargon may not be universal and may only apply to the municipal workers in the field. Diversified Public Engagement Processes, planned with Diversity in Mind Public engagement processes should be planned with diversity in mind at their onset. Given the demographic makeup of the population, it will be beneficial for municipalities to develop diversified public engagement processes that acknowledge the ethno-cultural diversity of their municipal population. Diversified public engagement processes will have the added benefit of encouraging underrepresented populations in the municipality to participate. As they will be designed with them in mind. Municipalities need to educate their residents on municipal services and the importance of participation in public consultations. This should be an ongoing process to ensure that people are aware of their roles and the benefits of their participation. Municipalities need to develop outreach techniques that educate, while at the same time bring ethno-cultural and immigrant residents to public consultations. Public engagement processes should take place in the neighbourhood, where broad scale public policy issues are broken down and relate to the day-to-day realities of residents. 92

94 Train Municipal Staff in Anti-racism and Power Relations It is important that municipal employees are trained in anti-racism, intercultural relations, cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity techniques. Evaluation It is important for municipalities to routinely evaluate their public consultations to ensure that they have a true representative sample of residents responding to issues. Evaluations should be designed so that their findings can be used to inform future processes, thereby ensuring that they have some legitimacy. Lobby Senior Levels of Government It is also important for municipalities to lobby senior levels of government for funding, to ensure that they are able to carry out their public engagement processes. Public engagement and citizens participation in such processes is one area where residents are able to practice their citizenship. Such active citizenship can lead to spill-over in active participation at other levels of government. Social justice and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked, and true sustainability can never be achieved without institutionalizing this concept. A truly sustainable society is one which recognizes that social needs and economic opportunity are interwoven with the concerns of the environment. Municipalities need to develop public engagement processes that recognize that societal inequalities prevent citizens from participating and thereby practicing and developing a sense of citizenship. This lack of sense of citizenship becomes an important concept for sustainability, as citizens need to develop a sense of ownership in the development of sustainable policies, as it is through the ownership of these policies that citizens can develop a sense of our shared and common responsibilities towards our planet. (Cuthill 2001, p 184) As such, all citizens have to be provided with the opportunity to participate and be part of the policy development process. In order to build ownership, citizens have to be informed, aware and engaged in the policy development process to mitigate the issues presented, as it takes the whole community to address a whole-ofcommunity issue. (Cuthill 2001, p 187) 93

95 Integration needs to be addressed at the level of everyday life. (Sandercock 2003, p 322) In order for municipalities to achieve social equity and justice for its constituents, organizations have to do more then just put policies in place that express their commitment to diversity. In order for policies to have meaning and for people to take them seriously, municipalities have to pay attention and analyze the effectiveness of the policies put in place. Effective diversity policies do more then pay lip service to equality and justice, they are action and results oriented. Diversity policies are put in place as there is recognition that not all people can be treated equally or just in a society, policies need to ensure that they address the intended target populations and mitigate the issues that they are intended to address. Municipalities that fail to implement ways and means of analyzing and measuring their achievements to this end will only contribute to the failure of their policies and lead to the illegitimacy of such policies in the eyes of their constituents. 94

96 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Semi-Structured Interview Questions Current Sustainable Policy Development in Municipalities What is the current definition of sustainability that your municipality is using? How would you define the social elements of sustainability? What would you consider some of the more important sustainability issues or policy concerns for your municipality? What is the definition that your municipality uses for the term broad public? Immigrant Communities and Sustainability What would you consider some of the challenges and opportunities that immigrants in your municipality present regarding the creation of urban sustainable policies? What sorts of mechanisms or methods has your municipality used to include the particular needs and concerns of immigrants in the sustainable policy process? What have you found to be the response rate? What are some of the issues or concerns you have observed in trying to engage immigrant communities in your municipality s urban sustainable policy process? What are some examples? Public Participation Methods In your municipality, would you say that immigrants want to engage or participate in your municipality s policy development and decision making around sustainability? What are the ranges of public participation methods used by your municipality to engage immigrants? Why are they used? How do they differ from the tools or methods used in engaging other ethnic groups within your municipality? Governance What would you say has been your Council's overall response in including immigrant voices and concerns in the decision making process, or policy development process around sustainability? 95

97 APPENDIX 2A: CITY OF BRAMPTON GROWTH PLAN CONSULTATION BROCHURE 3 Source: City of Brampton Website (d) 3 Double click image to see full brochure, front and back. 96

98 APPENDIX 2B: CITY OF BRAMPTON CONSULTATION BOARDS4 Source: City of Brampton Website (d) 4 Double click image to see full consultation board used. 97

99 APPENDIX 3A: CITY OF SURREY BROCHURE 5 Source: City of Surrey Website (n/a) 5 Double click image to see full invitation, front and back 98

100 APPENDIX 3B: CITY OF SURREY CONSULTATION BOARDS 6 Source: City of Surrey Website (n/a) 6 Double click image to see full consultation boards. 99

101 APPENDIX 3C: CITY OF SURREY CONSULTATION BOARDS 7 Source: City of Surrey Website (n/a) 7 Double click image to see full consultation boards. 100

102 APPENDIX 3D: CITY OF SURREY CONSULTATION BOARDS 8 Source: City of Surrey Website (n/a) 8 Double click image to see full consultation boards. 101

103 APPENDIX 3E: CITY OF SURREY CONSULTATION BOARDS 9 Source: City of Surrey Website (n/a) 9 Double click image to see full consultation boards. 102